Why is Brian Burke mad at Edmonton for the offer they made Dustin Penner?

Question

Everytime something doesn't go his way he cries like a little kid. He never shut up when he was with Vancouver, and then he wins a Stanley Cup and he still won't shut his flap.

I don't hate many people. But I will make an exception for Brian Burke.

Answer 1

Because he is being very desperate in trying to sign a forward.
Lowe also forced buffalo to sign Vanek to a large salary, so that was the first thing to tick people off.

But yeah Burke is a BIG crybaby, just like you said, he wins the cup and he cant even wait till the next season to start before he starts crying about somthing.

Answer 2

In any other profession but sports, you are free to work anywhere you want any time you want, so long as someone wants to employ you.

In the NHL, the collective bargaining agreement says a team OWNS you from the time you are drafted until you are 25 (before the latest CBA it used to be 31). Forget for a minute these guys makes millions of bucks. There's not many places in the free world where employers actually own their employees for any period of time.

In other words, if you are a second line player on a stacked team, and on other teams you would be a first line player, you are stuck with a lower salary for the first seven years of your career because you can't just pack up and leave. Essentially, if you are terrific player on a terrific team, it's possible that the system can hinder your earning potential. Malkin, for example, would probably be the highest paid player on many teams, but he's out of luck on the Penguins for the next six years because he's behind Crosby.

There is a provision after a player's first few years in the league that the can accept a contract offer from another team, but depending on your salary, it costs the offering team a pile of draft picks, so not many teams have tried this tactic. Your current team also has a week to match to other team's offer. If Burke signs Penner, then suddenly his two linemates will be making less than half of what Penner is making, and he's probably the the No. 3 man on that unit behind Perry and Getzlaf. Not a great situation.

Joe Sakic actually signed with the New York Rangers for a huge pay raise a decade or so ago, but Colorado matched the offer, and after that everyone else in the league wanted their salaries adjusted in balance with what Sakic was making and the paycheques went through the roof when teams just kept throwing cash at the players. That can't happen for long anymore. Since top salaries for players and the teams' budgets are now limited to the cap limit, the only way to balance your budget is to lose players.

Burke might not like the rules, but he probably better get used to them. Lowe's tactics might be the way of the future. It may be worth signing a proven player rather than wait five years to see if a draft pick works out or not.

Answer 3

Burke has a history of complaining about anything and everything. This time I have to at least partially agree with what he is saying (that wont happen often) simply because Penner needed to do more to get an offer of that size. But on the other hand nobody can dispute that Penner is potentially a top 6 forward and will be given top 6 icetime this season (no way the Ducks match). As for everyone complaining about what that does to teams cap space, this is an obvious exception to the general rules of value to cap space. If 3rd and 4th line guys want to hold out for 4mill deals so be it...there isnt enough money on 25 teams to even consider those kind of dollars so that arguement becomes flawed. Bottom line is Burke lost a cheap (in terms of cap dollars) quality guy who could step up to the top or 2nd line if Selanne retires to a team that is desparate for any kind of skilled offensive players. This is the cap era and he needs to get used to the fact this will happen at least once every year and no team can pay everyone the right dollars so learn to adapt and move on. At some levels he makes a decent arguement (for once) but this is the system they have and he needs to deal with it. Even he said he never had serious talks with Penner knowing he was restricted...he figured he would tender him at slightly about minimum and force him to play at that salary so he is partially at fault himself for not getting Penner inked right after the season even if it meant a bump to 800-900 thousand per.

Answer 4

Brian Burke is mad at Kevin Lowe because he thinks that the Oilers are driving up restricted free agents salaries. Look what he offered Vanek. Had he not done that, the sabres might have been able to sign a free agent to replace the production of Drury and Briere, and to a lesser extent, Zubrus. Dustin Penner is not worth over 4 million dollars, because he only got 45 points last year, and he was signed to a higher salary offer sheet than what Jason Blake got, and Jason Blake is a potential 40 goal, 70-80 point scorer, while all Penner is a big body who gets between 40 and 55 points, and can maybe throw around his body when needed. NOT WORTH THE OFFER SHEET.

Answer 5

I guess you and I differ on this one. Burke is one of the exceptional executives in the sport and his position is a viable one.

One of the reasons a lock-out became necessary was the continuous lack of discipline on the part of team GM's who were handing out ridiculous contracts left and right.

The resulting salary cap which was fought for at such a high price has creeped up 25% since its inception 2 seasons ago. In the meantime, long term high figure contracts have suddenly become the norm. How long can the sport sustain this model?

These trends do not bode well for the league's health and neither does a GM recklessly committing $70M of someone's money (average of $5.83M/year for length of the 2 deals) to two players who are not named Gretzky.

What will Ovechkin be seeking given Vanek's $7M/year compensation? How about Malkin, Lundqvist or any other emerging talent? Burke is right. Lowe has singlehandedly compromised the league's salary structure and his own team will be amongst the 30 franchises that will have to pay for his folly.

Answer 6

Hey, i'm no fan of Burke or Lowe but come on---how can anyone justify a raise from $450,000 to 4.25 mil a year for an undrafted player who has played just over one full season and has 33 goals to show for it. Alful big raise for "potential". Lowe has done it before and Burke has a right to complain. This kid doesn't pan out and whoeve signs him will be swallowing that for 5 years--here we go again... I think The Flyers are still paying a protion of several NHL salaries from the Clarke era -- LOL.
Sorry, Burke has a point. It's a rediculous offer

Answer 7

It's not sjut Burke who is pissed off. Its every GM that will ahve a Restricted Free agent between the age of 22-26 who can put up 60 points a season. These stats don't warrant a 4.3 million dollar pay, thats a 4 million dollar upgrade for someone who wasn't even drafted.

Basically he is inflating the market. When anyone similar goes to arbitration they are going to refer to Penner's salary and say they want just as much since they are doing the same amount of work. In the end he is making the salary cap NHL worse then not having a cap. Sure you will have quality players on your 1st/2nd line, but after that your players on lines 3 and 4 are going to be boring or rookies because no one will be able to afford quality players for their last 2 lines.

In short for people who don;t want to read all that. He's inflating the market for hockey players similar to Penner. 4.3 million is almsot a top line salary and Penner is not a top line guy.

Answer 8

Im a huge oilers fan and i say burke is an idiot. Lowe's offfer is a lil big and i personally wouldn't give Penner 4 mil a year, but definatly 3 mil wud be good., The oilers need a big foreward and penner could be the next big power foreward in the league. If burke likes penner that much he sud shut up and match the offer. Good job KEVIN LOWE

Answer 9

Sure. I hate Burke. I am one Vancouver fan that threw a party when he left. But I got to respect the results both in Vancouver and Anaheim. And in this case he is right.

Here we go again!! We are taking the first steps toward the next strike. When will GM's get some sort of self control!! Can I have a 950% raise please? 10% is considered big in my world. So then the GM's get to the point again that they can't help but offer players too much, and all of a sudden it is the players fault they make too much and they lock them out.

Kevin Lowe is a repeat offender, AND a bigger Gerk than Burke. Buffalo also called Lowe names last week when he went after Vanek. Vanek now engoys a 760% raise curtousy of Lowe. Lowe says he is going to make more offers.

I remember Vancouver matched to keep Ryan Kessler last year for $1.9Million a year. Anyone ever heard of him outside of Vancouver and other than the contract? He has 18 goals in 3 years in Vancouver. But aparantly worth a 260% raise in salary.

Answer 10

burke is mad because he is wanting penner and was offering less so he was under the cap and is waiting for neidermayer's decision. this gave time but now lowe made an offer and now cant keep penner unless neidermayer retires but if the cant keep penner that destroys some of this teams core for the future and downgrades their team.