I know we have not heard much about this in 4 weeks – I intended to post this up then, but life got in the way and here I am now spreading my excuses and explanations on this slice of toast we call The Daily Deke!  I just find it interesting in this year long feud between Brian Burke and Kevin Lowe it only became an “issue” in Batman’s eyes as soon as Kevin stood up for himself.  Brian has said some pretty underhanded and snide comments towards the Edmonton Oilers and Kevin, and once Kevin stands up and says “No More” … *queue the super hero music* Dum Da DA Dumass – Gary Bettman to the rescue!  Brian Burke has said he will abide by the NHL’s request to squash the verbal assaults on Kevin Lowe and the Edmonton Oilers … yet, before anyone could enjoy a sigh of relief and let their guard down, he nails one last one into the coffin.  TAMPERING???  So let me get this right … Brian spends most of last year bashing and trashing Kevin Lowe and Edmonton regarding the offer letter extended to Dustin Penner which eventually Edmonton won out and Penner joined the Oiler ranks!  Again, over the off season Brian starts his whining, this time Kevin will have no part of it.

It all started last July with Brian criticizing Kevin and the Oilers organization for their 5 year / $21.25 Million offer sheet to then RFA Dustin Penner.  The Ducks chose not to match it, so Penner became an Oiler and Burke became the jilted girlfriend, that’s when he started bad mouthing Kevin Lowe and how his offer sheet to Penner began the spiraling salaries being spent on young RFA’s.  Now that Brian is back at his antics Kevin Lowe will not stand by and watch anymore … he has turned around, dropped the gloves and stick and has taken his fighting stance.

“Where do I begin?,” started Lowe.  “He’s a moron, first of all.  Secondly, he really believes that any news for the NHL is good news.  Thirdly, he loves the limelight and I don’t think anyone in hockey will dispute that.  Lastly, he’s in a pathetic hockey market where they can’t get on any page of the newspaper let alone the front page of the sports, so any of this stuff carries on.  I mean, if he wants to debate what our offer sheet did to them or to the salaries, anytime.  The reality is, Rick Nash’s contract a number of years ago, (Patrice) Bergeron’s and (Ilya) Kovalchuk’s; that sets the standard - that’s been going on for decades.  I’m sick and tired of it.  I know everybody in hockey is.  I know our peers are like, ‘Well, that’s Burkie.’  This guy is an absolute media junkie and I guess he’s achieving what he wants because he gets his name in the headlines.  But the reality is, I hate the fact that my name is linked to his.  He’s an underachieving wanna-be in terms of success in the NHL.  He won a Stanley Cup? Great.  I’ve won six Stanley Cups, you want to count rings?  Who cares, it’s just a little pathetic that he carries on.”

To say that Brian took offence to Lowe’s assertion would be an understatement, Burke shot back with a response to the “he’s in a pathetic hockey market where they can’t get on any page of the newspaper let alone the front page of the sports.”  He said something to the effect of “our team won the Stanley Cup last year and this club has nothing to be defensive about or apologize for.  More important, we believe our fan base is as supportive, as rabid and as loyal as any fan base in pro sports, not just in the National Hockey League.  We’ve played to 77 straight sellouts. I believe that is the third-best string in the U.S.”

Burke went on to say that no one can question the “commitment, support and loyalty” of Ducks fans and that the team has succeeded in attracting fans in a crowded sports market.  Burke also focused on star winger Corey Perry, who signed a $26.6 million, five-year contract which was also was mentioned by Lowe.  Here is where the “Tampering” comes into play … Kevin told Team 1260 in an interview “Anaheim has decent players - Corey Perry is a hell of a player.  What I really want to say about his (Burke’s) bickering about parity and the salary cap is if you’re unhappy about them, then trade him (Perry) our way, we’ll be glad to have him.”

According to Burke that comment is Tampering.  ”It is our understanding that clubs are not entitled to express interest in the services of a player belonging to another NHL organization,” said Burke. ”Our understanding is that such an expression of interest constitutes tampering. We have asked the league to investigate whether a tampering episode has taken place.”

Kevin also had some interesting observations regarding Brian’s career …

“Here’s a fact - he left (former Canucks GM) Dave Nonis nothing in Vancouver nothing.  He destroyed that team.  If it wasn’t for Nonis’ incredible deals - to con Mike Keenan to get (Roberto) Luongo in Vancouver - that team was taking a nose dive two years ago.”  Kevin also pointed out “I mean, that’s his M.O., but no one says anything.  He goes into Anaheim and he inherits an incredible team.  He gets Chris Pronger - not because of our relationship, it just so happened we had five or six teams and targeted their assets.  We had Florida, Anaheim, Philadelphia, San Jose and Los Angeles.  He just happened to throw enough assets our way to get the player.  Kudos to him.  He recognizes that at the end of the day, you throw enough assets, you get the best player and you get a good deal.  You never know in this business if you’re going to win at the end of the day.  He could have just decimated the franchise forever.  I’ll tell you this, they have not much coming.  Bobby Ryan has been a questionable pick at No. 2 (overall in 2005), and up until this draft, they tried to move down and did a nice job of trying to replenish their depth chart.  They had nothing coming, and that appears to be his M.O.”

Before Kevin left the interview he was able to drop one more little Edmonton perception … “Don’t even ask me about Scott Niedermayer, I’ve already lowered myself in terms of (talking about) how they acquired him,” he said. “That’s a story for another day, but they were able to bring Niedermayer and Pronger in and they won a Stanley Cup.”  However, Burke shot back saying there was nothing fishy about the way the Ducks acquired Niedermayer.  “We signed Scott Niedermayer as a free agent in the summer of 2005.  There were no allegations of impropriety of any kind at that time. Now an impression has been created that there was impropriety.  We have asked the National Hockey League to conduct a full investigation into the signing of Scott Niedermayer.  Once they have done so, we expect to be exonerated of any misconduct and then we expect the league to act appropriately.”

Out of all this … what I find comical is that Brian Burke was allowed to stand up and spout off everything he thought about Kevin Lowe and the Oilers.  As soon as Kevin stood up to Brian’s attacks Gary Bettman steps in to say “This is not how GM’s in the NHL should behave.”  So – let me get this straight … it’s ok if one GM gets up and talks smack, but two GM’s going back and forth = NO GOOD?  There are so many routes I could go with here regarding Batman’s actions … like the one where Gary doesn’t like Canadian teams or franchises (Jim Balsillie anyone?) or maybe it’s how Gary has no beef with Colin Campbell’s ability to pick and chose where he hands out disciplinary actions (Pronger/Simon) … Seems that the NHL offices in NY have a systemic problem of Selective Attention Disorder (SAD) … only when they want to pay attention, they do!

Tags: Brian Burke, gary bettman, Kevin Lowe