Burke On the Olympics
10 years ago
ESPN has a pretty enlightening story on how Brian Burke thinks a team – specifically, the US Olympic Team – should be built. Scott Burnside followed around the US Olympic Braintrust for a while and got a pretty compelling article out of it. The choice quote?
Burke recalls fighting with his scouts in Anaheim over whether to take Bobby Ryan or Jack Johnson at the 2005 draft. The scouts won and the Ducks took Ryan. “I should have taken Jack,” Burke says. “No way he lets us down for 12 days.”
This should be disturbing for Flames fans – Johnson has been one of the worst regular defenseman in the NHL throughout his career and Ryan is on his way to his 5th 30-goal season. To say that even with the benefit of hindsight shows an extreme level of cognitive dissonance.
Read all of it here.
