By Tim Ubels (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: September 18, 2013
Where does Burke fit in?
After losing his job with the Toronto Maple Leafs this past winter, Brian Burke got used to life behind the scenes, working as a part-time scout for the Anaheim Ducks for a few months. Then on September 5, Brian Burke stepped back into the spotlight as the new president of hockey operations for the Calgary Flames.
Burke will act as a perfect counterpart for Flames general manager Jay Feaster in his new role with the team. Whether or not you have issues with the way he does business, Burke has proven time and again that he can restock a floundering organization with young talent and make the team competitive again. Feaster has struggled to do so over the past several seasons, and Burke’s experience in these dead-end circumstances will no doubt help the team’s rebuild process.
As long as the team’s top brass, which now includes Feaster, Burke, John Weisbrod, and Ken King, can avoid a power struggle amongst themselves, the team can rest assured their executives will get the job done. With the Flames organization’s potential struggles on the ice this season, the last thing it needs is trouble in an overcrowded front office. At the end of the day, Burke has spent a lot of time in the league, much of it as a high-level executive, and should bring experience and leadership to a young Flames group lacking both.
Now that Kiprusoff has retired, where does that leave the Flames netminding?
No one can deny the important role Mikka Kiprusoff played during Calgary’s dominant years in the Western Conference – he was a workhorse goaltender who dressed for a mind-boggling 514 games for the Flames between 2005 and 2012. At the same time however, his continued presence in the locker room represented everything that was wrong with the Flames over the past several years. Recent inconsistent play and a sorry posting of .882 save percentage during the shortened 2013 season signalled the end of the Finnish netminder’s time with the Flames. Maybe the camel’s back was already broken, but Kiprusoff’s poor play and unwillingness to accept a trade gave the organization grounds for implosion.
And with that, the Calgary Flames have a contest in net during training camp for the first time in recent memory. With no obvious frontrunner to fill Kiprusoff’s position, the Flames have signed five professional goaltenders, all of whom have a shot at the starting position. This battle to see which goaltender distinguishes himself may be the most intriguing on-ice component of the Flames training camp this year, and the battle between Joey MacDonald, Karri Ramo, Reto Berra, and prospects Laurent Brossoit and Joni Ortio could mean difficult decisions for the Flames brass going into October.
