On Brian Burke and the USA Hockey Team

 In case you missed it today, the USA Olympic Men’s Hockey Team of Future Gold Medal Winners was announced after the Winter Classic. The selection itself has minimal relevance for the Flames, given that no Calgary player was even remotely in consideration (really, like Chris Butler’s gonna go?), but as most readers here can imagine, Brian Burke played a fairly significant part in the selection process, and it’s an ugly reminder of how adherence to a philosophy other than "take the best players" can be a poor method for team selection.

Burke’s MO has been fairly consistent over the years: bigger, grittier, and- for lack of a better word- intenser. None of these are inherently bad, but at the exclusion of objectively better players, it becomes something of a drag. This is hardly a new subject of discussion here- Kent’s posted about it rather recently, in fact. Still, there was always a bit of hope that Burke was smarter than he let on— that when push came to shove, he’d go with the objectively better player. While the acquisition of Westgarth was an indicator that that may not be true, it was Scott Burnside’s article on the selection of the USA Olympic Men’s Hockey team that dashed all hopes of that.

Bobby Ryan is a consistent 30 goal scorer. Goal scoring is something that is a bit of an issue on this team. So choosing to leave him off the team for some perceived lack of emotional depth would be nonsensical, right? Not if you’re Brian Burke.

 

There’s certainly a debate to be had on whether Bobby Ryan is actually good enough for the team (his fancy stats are rather underwhelming), but the debate should hardly center around perceived emotional states.  In fact, let’s just repeat the most inane part of that statement.

There’s no critical analysis of skill here, at most it’s mentioned that he’s a bit of a slow skater, but that bit of knowledge is glossed over for Burke’s non-analysis (it’s mentioned at an earlier meeting that an unnamed person described Ryan’s skating as "sleepy", but that’s nearly as moronic as the intensity quote).

This is, unfortunately, a symptom of hockey culture— whether it’s American or Canadian. There’s a certain mysticism involved with picking the "right" players (read the entire section in the Burnside article on dreams— whether or not they were being hyperbolic, it’s utterly absurd), regardless of actual skill level. Burke’s argument against Keith Yandle is almost as bizarre as his screed against Bobby Ryan’s lack of intensity.

Dean Lombardi- who watches a lot of Yandle on the rival Coyotes- makes a strong argument for him: that his coaches are more worried about Yandle on the ice than almost any other Phoenix player, and that he’s the highest scoring American defenseman over the last four years. Burke’s response is making a quip about Lombardi making a romantic speech a la Gone With the Wind and implying that Lombardi is simply wrong in his analysis. Again, there’s no real analysis or discussion from Burke, just soundbites that back up his pre-formulated opinions.

This is the issue Burke is beginning to present. There’s nothing wrong with a general preference for larger or grittier players, and there’s nothing wrong with not liking Ryan or Yandle’s game. The issue that we’re left with is an insistence that worn platitudes about size or heart are more important than actual skill- that Burke’s gut on a player is more indicative of quality than stats or tape. And that’s not a good thing for the Flames going forward.

Of course, the most amazing takeaway from the Burnside article is that anyone still listens to Don Waddell.