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Oilers NOW with Bob Stauffer

NHL Executive Legend Brian Burke (5/29/26)

29 May 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

0.031 - 23.864 Bob Stauffer

Hey, it's Bob Stauffer. I just wanted to let you know that you can listen to Oilers Now ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. It is 5.07 in Edmonton. Bob Stauffer out of the downtown office in Ice District. Hope you're doing well. A reminder. We'll have a countdown to the kickoff beginning just after the 5.30 news weather traffic update with Morley Scott and Dave Campbell.

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24.004 - 57.462 Bob Stauffer

They will have all of your Edmonton Elks coverage this year. Pretty sure that Blake Termont is still part of that group as well. Blake used to do Golden Bears football with me 22 years ago. um anyhow let's do this let's tell you that uh we are going to bring aboard here momentarily the one the only brian burke and brian of course a long time executive in the National Hockey League.

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57.482 - 84.553 Bob Stauffer

And we're going to go there right now. For friends at Ultrashine, commercial cleaning done smarter, request your free cleaning quote today by visiting Ultrashine.com. We welcome back to the show, NHL executive and broadcasting legend, Brian Burke. Hello, Brian. How are you doing? Hi, Bob. How are you? I'm hanging in there. I'm battling through one right now, but yeah, no, we're all good.

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84.573 - 101.5 Bob Stauffer

It's we got about a half hour left. We're going to have some fun here. Never a dull moment. Let me ask you this. You haven't two letters. Evan Bouchard and Darnell nurse went over to the world hockey championship. And I, sorry, I didn't check the bio. We know you're involved at the highest levels with the U S Olympic team, et cetera.

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101.52 - 104.946 Bob Stauffer

How did you ever head up a world championship contingent for the United States?

105.938 - 124.318 Brian Burke

Yes, twice by myself, and then we formed a committee, and it's done that way to this day. Six or eight guys have been put on. How much? Of all the teams, there were 12 teams. Okay. One World Cup and nine national teams.

124.703 - 148.778 Bob Stauffer

nine national how much did you worry about injuries first of all when you're an nhl general manager like if you're stan bowman yesterday and you're watching evan bouchard get knocked the you know what out uh and it's you know leading scoring he's a superstar defenseman in this league how much do gms of the nhl teams worry about that with their players that go over Not much.

149.339 - 172.395 Brian Burke

I think it's worth it. The risk you run is very small compared to the benefit that 20 players will get from playing in that tournament, especially your young guys. So I never worried about it much. It was annoying when it happened. Someone's gotten hurt in every major tournament I was involved in. So it's not something to sneeze at, but not something to concern yourself with either.

173.05 - 191.572 Bob Stauffer

Well, you know what, Brian, you know what, like Kevin Fiella for the LA Kings. I mean, that's the guy that they created mismatches with. He, you know, he's a high point producer, like kind of play him in a third line role in LA and try to get against third pairing defenseman. And he got injured at the Olympics and was, you know, with the lower body injury, never came back.

Chapter 2: What insights does Brian Burke share about the NHL?

270.573 - 286.915 Brian Burke

You don't get paid for that tournament. You go to the World Championships, you get airfare over for you, your partner, and two or three guests. and you get some tickets free, and you get some mail money, and you get some little bit of cash. You don't get paid for that tournament. They're all volunteers.

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288.838 - 312.395 Bob Stauffer

Well, and again, you drafted, Matt. You were with the Flames at the time that you guys drafted Matthew Kachuk, right? Yep. I remember Chris Knobloch calling me when the Oilers ended up fourth, going, you have to consider Kachuk. This guy is the ultimate gamer. And you've told the story. Like, Pauly Harvey was right ahead of him, right? And so everybody had Pauly Harvey ahead.

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312.515 - 315.058 Bob Stauffer

I don't know if you guys had Yo Levy ahead of him as well.

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315.859 - 338.81 Brian Burke

We had him right there. We had him right there. We had him right there, neck and neck, yes. People lie about the solitaires. So we had this guy ahead of or behind. Like, Alexander Degg, everyone says, oh, he drafted Pauly Harvey to Alexander Degg. No one liked him. Everyone had Alexander Degg in the top three or four. Everybody. Everyone lies about this. Everyone had your levy there.

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339.271 - 343.114 Brian Burke

Everyone had Pellewi Arby there. People lie about it. It drives me nuts.

345.196 - 364.973 Bob Stauffer

You executed one of the greatest combination trades ever to bring the two Sedins into Vancouver. They are now the presidents, co-presidents of the Vancouver Canucks. Ryan Johnson's their GM. Do you think there's a mechanism where Vancouver can replicate what you did and possibly either add a pick or conversely move up in the draft?

366.792 - 374.06 Brian Burke

I'm not sure. I had coffee with Ryan and Danny two days ago.

Chapter 3: How has Brian Burke influenced U.S. hockey on the international stage?

374.08 - 396.825 Brian Burke

I was in Vancouver to give a speech last night. I guess it was Thursday. I met with Danny and Ryan Johnson for coffee. I really like Ryan Johnson. He's a guy that played the game hard, learned by the right people, good guy. And, of course, Danny, I love Danny. I love Hank. So I think they've got a chance to do well. I'm not sure what they can do with this pick, though.

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397.466 - 407.999 Brian Burke

I'm not sure anyone's going to move picks. You see, the one great thing about the Sedinio is the worst thing about Sedinio. No one wants to trade high picks anymore.

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408.66 - 424.57 Bob Stauffer

Right. I mean, you just don't see it. You know, people are sitting there, well, San Jose's too, and I'm like, yeah, San Jose needs a right shot defenseman. And I've been partial, as you know, to Verhoff because I looked at McKenna and Verhoff going to the NCAA or the two Swedes that are playing in the Swedish Hockey League.

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424.59 - 430.938 Bob Stauffer

And to me, that's on a different level than Major Junior right now, especially out West because the West got hit the hardest.

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432.841 - 459.173 Brian Burke

Not just that, but there's no generational player. There's no clear number one. My advice to Charles Maple is to shop the hell out of that pick. You might be able to do something like we did, where you get a player you really want at three or four and something else, and get another high pick. You might get two players instead of one. They might be comparable.

Chapter 4: What are the risks of injuries for NHL players participating in international tournaments?

459.273 - 467.582 Brian Burke

So Berhoff or Reed, whoever it is, shop the pick. McKenna's not a generational player. He's a good player.

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468.663 - 489.754 Bob Stauffer

Yeah. You know who is a generational player? Connor McDavid. And for the fourth, you know, the orders went to the final the last two years. Vegas, who beat Edmonton in 23, Brian, and Vegas again this year with John Tortorella. And I know you got a lot of respect for torts. I mean, it's but let's not forget what Vegas executed this year. They made the Marner trade.

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489.894 - 513.681 Bob Stauffer

Yes, there were some advantages. There's advantages in Vegas. You can go there. It's not the highest pressure market in terms of, you know, fan intrusiveness and that sort of thing. But it is a team that has expectations to win. They got Marner. They got Rasmus Andersen out of Calgary. They took the swing on Carter Hart, right? And the goalie, exactly. And the goalie.

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513.701 - 519.244 Bob Stauffer

Like, that is an impressive body of work. For the Vegas Golden Knights.

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520.966 - 542.032 Brian Burke

If they win this whole thing, it's all going to be credited to Kelly McCrimmon. Because those are big swings. A lot of people wouldn't touch Carter. Look how well he's playing. A lot of people said Marner can't score in the playoffs. He's probably going to win the conspire award if they win it. Everyone said this guy can't help. This guy can't help. Guess what? They're a really big team.

542.472 - 549.498 Brian Burke

I don't like it. Changing the coach with eight games to go. Bruce Cassidy's a good coach. That sure seems to be working.

550.34 - 563.946 Bob Stauffer

If you were in Edmonton's position, would you wait for Vegas? And we don't know if Vegas is going to let Cassidy talk with the Oilers. We don't know if that's ultimately going to come to fruition. Would you wait if you were Edmonton?

565.36 - 588.851 Brian Burke

I would if I really wanted him. I think that might come to fruition, but I don't think it will now. I have too much hard feelings now. I don't think there's any way in hell I'll let him go. But this notion that somehow Bruce Cassidy is getting screwed, I'm sorry. I don't like this. I wouldn't do it. But I understand why Vegas is doing it. It makes perfect sense. Well, it's in the rules.

589.451 - 612.016 Brian Burke

People have to look back on how this worked. Owners used to fire coaches and not pay them. They'd say, I'm firing you for cause. Not because you didn't do a good job. I'm not paying you. Arbitration after arbitration. Finally, Bettman said, screw this. Everyone gets paid. But the backside, the flip side of that equation is, if you get fired, you're not free to go anywhere you want.

Chapter 5: What are the implications of Matthew Kachuk's decision to play for Team USA?

660.739 - 674.393 Brian Burke

I'd love to see another game. I'd love to see Montreal push this again. I think Cinderella's clock is going to strike midnight. That's going to turn back into a pumpkin, the coach. All right. No, I think it's over.

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674.913 - 682.788 Bob Stauffer

All right, so hypothetically, if it's over tonight, we're going to start the series on June 2nd, which is Tuesday. Who would you take, Vegas or Carolina?

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684.151 - 704.098 Brian Burke

I'd take Vegas right now. I hope I'm wrong on this one, too, because I think Rod Rendemore has done such a good job of all the coaches. You mentioned lots of great coaches. We're blessed with a number of great coaches. But the guy who's done the best job for the longest time, besides John Cooper, is Rod Rendemore.

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704.619 - 710.532 Brian Burke

I hope I'm wrong, but I think Vegas is going to roll over these guys just like they're rolling over everyone else they've played.

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712.076 - 729.289 Bob Stauffer

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