After a year in Pittsburgh, executive Brian Burke is high on the Penguins' future
Brian Burke still is trying to figure out Pittsburgh.
Nearly a year after he was hired as the Pittsburgh Penguins president of hockey operations, he hasn’t been able to dine out as much as he would like because of the pandemic. And he’s still fuzzy on some of the outlying areas outside of the city’s proper limits.
But he has a pretty good feel for Pittsburgh as a community.
“It’s a great sports town,” Burke said recently. “This is one of the best sports towns in the world. So that part has been great. As far as the dining and all of that, I’ve really only been to four restaurants because that’s all we’ve been allowed to go to in between lockdowns. So, I have not experienced the Pittsburgh experience like I hoped to. I did go to a Steelers game, which was cool. Got to be friends with (Steelers general manager) Kevin Colbert, who I admire very much. It’s been terrific. What have I learned? I have yet to meet a person here who has treated me unkindly. People here have been terrific. No one honks at me if I’m late at a turn.
“People are wonderful. It’s great.”
Those adjectives could be used to describe the team he took over after he was hired Feb. 9, 2021. After Burke and general manager Ron Hextall were installed on the same day, the Penguins won the NHL’s temporary East Division and are currently in third place of the reinstituted Metropolitan Division.
Last season’s success was overlapped, however, by a premature exit from the first round of the postseason at the hands of the New York Islanders. And there are looming questions about an organization that went through a recent ownership change as well as the future of a handful of franchise icons.
Recently, Burke discussed those matters and a variety of other subjects with the Tribune-Review.
• Pittsburgh, the city, has treated him well.
“Drove here in a blizzard on a Monday, we played that night. Bought my condo on Thursday. I’ve always done that. Wherever I’ve worked, I’ve gone in and made a home right away. Within four days or five days, I bought a condo in the Strip District and set up shop. It’s been wonderful as far as a place to live. And our team has been fun to be around. They’ve done nothing but win since I got here, and that’s fun.”
• Burke joined the Penguins under the unique circumstances of a pandemic that has impacted virtually every aspect of the NHL’s business.
“The league has done an amazing job with all of this stuff. We’ve got big challenges ahead of us as a league. But I think the NHL is ready to meet those challenges. And I’m impressed with the way crisis after crisis has been dealt with effectively and professionally by the NHL. So that’s all good. Our coach has a mindset that no matter what happens, we have to be ready to play. Next man up, all that. I think that same mentality applies here. OK, we’re locked down. OK, then we’re not locked down. … We’ve all been just like, whatever the rules are, let’s follow them and let’s keep winning. Kind of a matter-of-fact approach.”
• Fenway Sports Group formally took over ownership of the Penguins on Dec. 31. That stewardship is still in its embryonic stages.
“We’re trying to go through the process of integrating with a new ownership group. So far, the transition has been excellent. The people from Fenway Sports group have been very helpful, very professional. We’re trying to figure each other out, who does what. It’s been seamless. People have been very helpful.”
• Burke and Hextall never worked with one another before joining the Penguins. Their relationship continues to evolve.
“It’s like being married. I wake up every day and work with Ron Hextall. We’ve got to make that work. So far, it’s been terrific. His convictions are strong. His opinions are strong. He’s collaborative. I’m involved in every decision. So is the coach. It’s been terrific. It’s been a great working relationship.”
• After goaltender Tristan Jarry struggled considerably in the postseason against the Islanders, Hextall, himself a former All-Star goaltender during his playing career, took strides to instill confidence in Jarry that he would remain the franchise’s top goaltender moving forward. Burke lauded Hextall’s initiative on that front.
“It was critical. To have a goaltender struggle in his first real playoff appearance, that’s not unusual. We don’t think Tristan Jarry had a great playoff last year against the Islanders. That’s not unusual. You look at (ex-Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury), I think had a couple of tough playoffs. (Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei) Vasilevskiy. (Montreal Canadiens goaltender) Carey Price. So for a player to scuffle a little bit early on, that’s not unusual.
“People are saying, ‘Oh, you’ve got to get a goalie.’ Ron Hextall said to me, as soon as the playoffs were over, ‘We don’t need a goalie.’ And he told Tristan that: ‘We’re not looking for a goalie. We believe in you.’ When your (general manager) tells you that, that means a lot. But when your (general manager) was a pretty phenomenal NHL goaltender, that means even more. … It was huge.”
• During a recent podcast, Philadelphia Flyers icon Bobby Clarke was highly critical of Hextall’s tenure as general manager of that franchise.
Clarke claimed none of the Flyers’ scouts wanted to draft forward Nolan Patrick with the second overall selection of the 2017 draft but the franchise did, under Hextall’s direction. Clarke also suggested Hextall did not consult with scouts on other transactions.
Additionally, Clarke alleged Hextall “alienated everybody” within the organization.
Hextall, who was fired by the Flyers in 2018, declined to comment on Clarke’s accusations.
Burke had no compunction on offering a comment.
“There’s two things. First off, that was an unprecedented attack on a former teammate (co-worker). I’ve never seen anything like it in pro sports, not just in the NHL. For a guy to go after a guy like that was totally out of bounds, totally off base. That’s No. 1. No. 2, I dispute all the factual parts of it. We’re going to leave it at that. I dispute every single factual element of what Bobby Clarke said.”
• With the trade deadline looming a few weeks away (March 21), do the Penguins have any positions on their roster they need to improve?
“There’s an 800-pound gorilla in the room right now called the salary cap. We’re capped out. You might have a wish list. You might say at Christmas time, here’s my list for Santa. There’s no list right now because we have no cap space. The only way we can create cap space is to move guys that we think are important to us right now. We like this team. We’re not intent on making big changes to the group we have. Unless we can do that, we can’t make big changes.
“There are two aspects to it. One, we’re capped out. There’s not much we can do unless we artificially create room. So how do you do that? You move a player that you really like that’s an important part of our team. It doesn’t make sense. No. 2 is, from our perspective, we have traded a lot of (future) assets. We don’t have much (in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton). We haven’t had a lot of draft picks. We’ve got to be careful with our assets. Even as we like to add, we’ve got to be careful of the price tag, as well. The double whammy is one, we’re capped out, two, we’ve got to start preserving some of our assets, as well. We’ve got to balance those two things. If we can add, we will.”
• Under previous general managers Jim Rutherford and Ray Shero, the Penguins were not shy about dealing away future assets such as prospects or draft picks for immediate help to the NHL roster. That approach was justified by the three Stanley Cup titles the franchise has won this century.
Hextall has indicated an urgency to restore the depth to their pool of future assets. While the team has had only one draft since Hextall was hired, Burke suggests the franchise is pointed in the right direction with regards to that pursuit.
“We’re happy with (the 2021) draft. We didn’t have a lot of picks. We’re happy with the players that we took. We’re not going to change our formula. … The two things that you have to counterbalance here are being capped out. What do you want to add? And being cognizant of the fact that our talent pool is limited. Trading high picks for an outside chance of winning a round, that math doesn’t make sense anymore.”
• The Penguins have enjoyed success this season despite considerable impediments related to health. Their top two centers, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, have missed considerable time because of offseason surgeries. And before the NHL as a whole began to have issues with covid-19, the Penguins were one of the league’s “leaders” in terms of man-games lost to the virus throughout October and November.
In Burke’s estimation, one person has been responsible for guiding the team through those troubled waters.
“The hero of this team so far is Mike Sullivan, no question in my mind. No. 1, the injuries that we’ve had have not just been numerous, they’ve been to the wrong people. They’ve been to key assets. It’s Sid. It’s Malkin. It’s not Brian Burke. It’s not some slug. It’s a key contributor. It’s Bryan Rust. It’s Jake Guentzel. The guys that we’ve missed have been impact players on our team. Not just the volume. … The quality of the players that we’ve been missing has been staggering. And the coach just figures out a way. Next man up, and we just keep playing.
“It’s a combination of the coaching doing a really good job and the fact that our team just sticks to the gameplan. We don’t change the way we play. The personnel change, we still play the same way. That’s helpful. That structure is helpful in winning hockey games.”
•While there haven’t been seismic changes to the roster since Burke and Hextall have taken over, there have been a number of changes behind the scenes in scouting and development. Hextall’s first true move with the organization was to install Chris Pryor, a long-time associate dating back to their days with the Flyers, as director of player personnel.
Have those changes born any fruit as of yet?
“It’s way too early to say. I like the changes that we’ve made. We’ve made some key changes on the analytics side. I like the diversity that we’ve added to our group. But the changes, long term, you have to evaluate that over 24 to 48 months, I would say. So far, I like what we’ve done.”
• Two of those changes have involved the hiring of women to hockey operations roles. First, Katerina Wu was brought on as a data scientist with the analytics department. Then, former Olympian Krissy Wendell-Pohl was hired as an amateur scout.
Burke, who identifies Miami Marlins general manager Kim Ng as a friend, sees the increase of people from nontraditional backgrounds being hired in operational roles with professional sports franchises as much-needed progress.
“That’s the way it’s going,” Burke said. “We have very strict orders on that from (chief executive officer and president) David Morehouse. Now, Fenway Sports Groups is carrying over that same mandate. You look at the team pictures from when I played. They’re all the same. They’re all white guys. And they just get older. I’ve gotten older every year in the team picture, and it’s all white guys. We’ve got to change how we hire. We’ve got to change the people that we put in decision-making roles. Krissy is a big hire for us. Katerina is a big hire for us. (Amateur scout) Matt Mangene is a BIPOC (Black, indigenous person of color) candidate that we had. (Hockey operations advisor) Trevor Daley. We’ve made a very cognizant effort to be more diverse. That comes right from David Morehouse.
“We’re very proud of the changes that we’ve made. It’s not about adding diversity. It’s about adding quality people that make you diverse.”
• Some of the changes hockey has undergone in these areas could be credited to the Burke family.
The You Can Play initiative was launched in 2012 following the death of Burke’s son, Brendan Burke, a gay man who died in 2010 automobile accident.
Burke’s other son, Patrick, helped found You Can Play with a mission to “ensure the safety and inclusion for all who participate in sports, including LGBTQ+ athletes, coaches and fans.”
Brian Burke takes great pride in what You Can Play has accomplished in nearly 10 years but realizes more work is required.
“These attitudes about the LGBTQ+ community are not going to change overnight. These are not walls. These are not walls, these are not doors you kick in. These are mudwalls that built up over decades and centuries of ignorance and bias and hatred. They take time to dissipate. The progress that’s been made in the 10 years since Brendan’s accident has been significant. We’re getting there. The world is a better place for the LGBTQ+ community. We’re nowhere near where we need to be, but I’m pleased with the progress we’ve made so far.”
• Burke nearly drafted Crosby in 2005. As the NHL was emerging from a lockout, the league staged a lottery to draft Crosby, who long was expected to be the NHL’s next generational superstar. The final two teams in the lottery were the Penguins the Anaheim Ducks, whom Burke served with as general manager.
Even if it’s almost 17 years later, Burke is happy to finally have Crosby on his team.
“Sid’s a gift to our team and our league. I knew how good he was when I got here. I remember when we lost the draft lottery and didn’t get him. Ever since then, every time I’d see him, I’d go to him, ‘We came this close, Sid.’ Now, finally, I’ve got him on my team. Sid’s a gift. He’s just a phenomenal player. He’s an equal match as a leader. It’s just a gift to have him here. I know he feels he could do more. He does plenty.”
• Recently, there was plenty of debate among fans and media as to whether or not Crosby is still in the upper echelon of NHL-ers or if he had given way to younger superstars.
Burke offered brief but direct thoughts on that subject.
“Everyone loses that battle with Father Time. But Sid’s not losing that battle yet.”
• The team’s “other” franchise center, Malkin, recently returned to the lineup after recuperating from offseason surgery to a badly damaged right knee.
The effort Malkin put into rehabilitating spoke volumes to Burke.
“The battle that he’s fought to get back, the work that’s gone in with (Malkin), I don’t think people have realized how hard this player has rehabbed this injury and how hard he has worked. We watch him skate every day. … This guy has worked tirelessly. It’s a big boost for us to get a player back of that caliber. He’s played really well. I really give credit for and admire how hard Evgeni Malkin worked hard to get back here. … It’s a very serious injury that he’s had to come back from. I admire what he’s done to get back. And I’m glad that he’s back.”
• What are the futures of Malkin or star defenseman Kris Letang? Both are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents after this season.
“(Hextall) has been in talks with both of those players. We’ll see where it goes. It’s too early. We still have plenty of time before we have to make a decision. We’ve had discussions with them, and we’ll keep those confidential. But certainly, we’ve had substantive talks with both players. We’ll see where it goes. We have time.”
• What does the future hold for the Penguins? What will they look like on the second anniversary of Burke and Hextall’s arrival?
“We’ll have a lot more answers after the trade deadline. That’s when we’ll know if players are going to extend or not or they’re going to go somewhere else. But we’ve got lots of time. I’ll answer that question at the right time.”
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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