Slow news day, not to worry. Just shove a microphone in Brian Burke's face and count to three. You are bound to get a headline.
Sure enought Brian Burke blasted Dany Heatley and his agents for the way in which they handled his trade request.
“We’re not going to be in on that,” Burke stated. “He’s a good player but I have certain guidelines on how players ask for trades.”
“When you have players come ask you for a trade, I tell the players ‘don’t finish that sentence,’ because once you ask, I’m going to move you,” Burke stated. “If a player wants out, you’re darn right I’m going to move you. I’m not kissing anyone’s ass to play in my town, so to hell with you, don’t finish the sentence. My second rule is if I hear about this, you’re not going anywhere.”
“For a player to pop off and say he wants out or leak it (to the media), in my mind you are now no longer interested in your team. If you’ve done that you’ve handicapped them, you’ve handcuffed your GM.”
I'm not a big Dany Heatley fan despite his obvious regular season numbers. He is likely a team chemistry killer.
Now I tried to check out trades made by Burke to test his rule. There is already some debate that he has contradicted himself on the Pronger trade. Pronger had asked Edmonton for a trade and some say it was Oiler GM Kevin Lowe that informed the media of the request. While others suggest Pronger's agent, Pat Morris, had been quietly spreading the word around to other GMs and it eventually leaked to the media. Either way the media will be closely scrutinizing Burke's deals (as if they wouldn't otherwise).
