The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Sheet: Brian Burke on Sheldon Keefe Leaving in Markstrom and more

Episode Date: January 8, 2026

Burkie dives into listener voicemails and mailbag submissions, tackling everything from roster construction and league decision-making to the moments that sparked debate across the NHL last night. The guys break down Trevor Zegras’ headline-grabbing night in Anaheim, the growing tension and frustration surrounding the New Jersey Devils after their stunning 9-0 loss to the New York Islanders, and what that result says about the team’s identity, structure, and urgency moving forward. They also get into Ryan Reaves’ fight, physicality in today’s NHL, accountability, and how organizations respond when things spiral.SHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼Bauer: https://www.bauer.com/👍🏼Uber Eats: https://www.ubereats.com/caReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@FNBarnBurner🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

He's someone who makes his way to this program every Wednesday. One of only a few people that you can honestly say needs no introduction. He is the one and only Brian Burke. He joins me now on the sheet. Brian, how are you today? Good, Jeff. How are you? I am doing well. There are a lot of people in New Jersey, however, who are not doing well.

There's a couple of things with the devils that I want to go over with you. Yesterday on the show, I was talking about fans booing Luke Hughes. and I thought I was going to talk to you about that out of the gate today, but then last night happened. And the Islanders drubbed the New Jersey Devils, 9-0. All the goals were 5 on 5. Not a single penalty taken

by the New Jersey Devils. No pushback. The goaltender left in there. Ironically enough, Patrick Gua, who was left in to rot for nine goals against Red Wings, he was the opposing coach of last night's game and saw Jacob Markstrom all nine. A lot in there, Berkey. Where do you want to begin with the New Jersey Devils

right now? now. Well, I start with the goaltender. You can't let a guy hang out to dry like that. You got to yank him. I know they wanted to keep him

fresh, but you got to yank the goalturn and you get to 5-0. Got to try and do it to save him. Either the e-bug had to go in. Or the mascot. Dress anybody. I understand the idea of like,

Berkey, you're right, not wanting to subject Jake Allen who's been been outstanding for you all season long, not wanting him to put him into that mess. But I'm with you. Like history says, like you got to pull him out.

He's having a poor before. That was probably, going back to his rookie season with the Panthers, the worst game that Jacob Marksham's ever played. Well, I watched all the goals. I can't fault him for four of them. But at least five of them, I think he had a chance on. He was just lost last night. That happens.

And it's getting beat 9-0. That happens to teams. They get lost in a game. It slips away from you. There's got to be some football. pushback, it's got to be some fight back, got to be a fight or two, got to be some indication, yank the goaltender, use your time out, which I think they did, there's got to be some pushback. You can't get slaughtered like that. The one thing, and I knew this would

raise your antenna, these are all five-on-five goals. Like, there's no power play goals here. Like, to your point about pushback, there was no pushback from the New Jersey Devils whatsoever yesterday. They went into that. that game, they took their beating, and then they skated off the ice. The end. There was even, like, the games at UBS, and there was a New Jersey Devil's jersey that was thrown on the ice, on the road. That's how bad it was, Berkey.

Yeah, I know that was bad. I don't like when people throw sweaters on the ice, but he might be able to see the frustration level because Sheldon Keith had just called the team out for lack of effort two games before this. He called them out. went after them pretty poignly. They'd already challenged them once, and then they get beat on the road like that.

It was embarrassing. So Tom Fitzgerald is taking a lot of heat right now, not just for the Quinn Hughes situation. You know, as someone else mentioned to me, when you have one of the best players in the game who's pretty much indicating he's ready to come to your team and you can't make it happen, you have a problem. But also, you know, here's Tom Fitzgerald.

whose expectations for this team were certainly elevated based on the personnel that they have and now all of a sudden Tom Fitzgerald is not out there in front of microphones is not out there in front of cameras I'm not asking you to be Tom Fitzgerald

but if Brian Burke were in this situation Berkey what would you do if you were the GM of the Devils right now? Well I'm not going to comment on Quinn Hughes because I'm not sure that anyone else was able to make make that deal. If Quinn Euse was that good a player, which she is, there should have been 29 teams trying to get him, or everyone but their division trying to get him.

To me, the fact that Fitsy couldn't pull that off doesn't, I'm not, that alone is not enough to sink him for me, but there's a cumulative thing here. He's gone through a couple coaches, so at some point you run out of coaching changes, at some point you have to look in the mirror, and at some point, the ownership's going to look at Fitsy and say, they, you got one chance to fix this, try and make some happen. I hate players are in that, when GMs are in that circumstance, but I think that's the circumstance that fits these in now. Does he need to get out there in front of the media?

Like, obviously, Berkey, you were never shy about jumping in front of a camera, whether it was to defend your team or, and I saw you do this plenty, and I believe your term forward is get the flies off, you would jump in front of cameras to protect your players as well. If you're Tom Fitzgerald, do you jump in front of the cameras right now? I think you have to, but I'm not sure as much. Unless you can make a change or two here, this is not going the right way. It's not going the right direction at all.

And at some point, if you can't do something about it, talking about it, it's not going to help. You know, Luke Hughes on Sunday, put one goal in his own net. You know, it made a sloppy play in front of his net that, to what Taylor Hall tap in against the Carolina Hurricanes. And New Jersey Devils fans let Luke Hughes know it. Now, the booing issue is always an interesting one. Everyone has a different opinion on it. I believe fans have the right.

They pay their money. They can boo. They can cheer. But I can still recall, I was telling the story yesterday, and you remember this, when Bob Ganey was running the Montreal Canadiens. And fans were starting to get on Patrice Breesbois. Bob came out, and I believe George Gillette would have been the owner.

would love to have been in the room to see to see George Gillette's reaction to this one. And Bob Ganey said, look, if you're coming, if you're coming to the Bell Center to to boo Patrice Breesbois, don't come. Don't come. Don't come to the games. Don't come to boo our players at home. Do you have a thought on, you know, what the devil should, because again, it might only be one game. But if it continues, like, what can the New Jersey devils do if the booing flukees continues? I don't think there's anything you can you about it. Remember Larry Murphy, remember Gianfanoffin? Oh, yeah.

And a certain number of fans are turning on Moe. Yeah. And more a little bit, too. So to me, I think fans always have the right to boo. I've never chastised fans for doing that.

I never, I remember when Bobby and he said that. I didn't think it was a smart thing to say then, and I still don't. I think at this point you got to just play better. It's that simple. But signaling out one player for a mistake is really wrong. It's a fascinating situation

with the New Jersey Devils. I guess like everything in life, like everything in sports, it's all a matter of expectation. Did you expect New Jersey to be better than this, this season? There'd be the last New Jersey question. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Everyone did. Look at the preseason selections for where they thought guys would finish like to win their division or be second in the division

so I thought they'd be a lot better I'm surprised they're not and I like to coach a lot I like the gym a lot but I'm not sure where you're pointed to finger I don't want to think it's got to get quite soon they're going to give my thing

I get Fitsy a chance to make one more deal and then they'll make some kind of decision when you're you've always talked about this before when you started in this industry all the GMs were pirates now everybody wants to cooperate but if you're a rival general manager here and you're looking at the new jersey devils and like there's a lot of really good players on this team there's a lot of really good prospects in this organization knowing that tom fitzgerald is

up against it right now do you call and see if you can for lack of a better term steal someone well i think you make the call you have to apologize when you do say look i hate to be one of the Pirates, but are you trying to do anything? Because at some point, you say to yourself, if he's going to make a deal, I've got to be in on it. They're moving a really good player, a really good piece. See, here's the thing about momentum with teams. The Buffalo Sabres have the same players they had when they fired the GM, Kevin Adams. Same thing now.

Fitsy's put together a really good team, really good group of players. They're not playing well right now. So what do you do? You either change the players or change the coach, or you're going to get fired. so inactivity altogether is not an option like i i was i was reminded with the buffalo savers situation of an old saying which is patience is action and in some you've been through this like sometimes the right thing to do is nothing and that is actually an action uh is that not no long is that no longer an option for the new jersey devils i would say no because of the lack

of effort last night the lack of pushback the lack of response there's something running through. Okay. The other team, we should probably park a little bit of time talking about equally, if not more miserable. Last year, they were the President's trophy winners. This year, they're the last place team in the NHL. Do you have a thought on the Winnipeg Jets? They've now lost 10 games in a row.

And the one thing that I've been trying to remind people of is, like, Berkey, we would watch Winnipeg last year. and they would be down a puck in the second period, down two pucks in the third period, and they'd still find a way to win. Like, there was such a fun team to watch, high-quality team. And I can't believe that just losing Nick Eilers is the cause for all their woe and all their concern. But here they are. They've gone from top to bottom.

We've got to go back to like the 1940s with the Rangers to ever see that. It is stunning to have a look at the Western Conference standings and see the Winnipeg Jets at 35 points after 41 games. What do you do here? Well, I think this is one area where I'd say, unlike Fidsey, I think at this point, if I'm Chevy, I'm patient, because this group has shown

that they are legitimate contenders, and they're playing very poorly. They had great goaltending last year, this year. It's just okay. It hasn't been the reason they've lost, in my mind. Goaltending hasn't cost them all these games, but their lack of timely goals, the lack of an inability to kill a penalty late.

Like last night again, they gave up a late goal to force overtime. Yeah. And I would be patient with that group. I believe in that group. It's so bizarre, though. Like, it's like, we've seen teams take a dip, but we've never seen, like,

falling off the mountain right to the bottom. Like, Berkey, President's trophy winners, right to the bottom. Like an 18-wheeler going off the cliff. Not that I was trying to lead you there or anything, Berkey, but there we go. I'm not sure how much of the San Jose Columbus game you watched yesterday, but there was a heavyweight of heavyweight tilts in this one. We're going to play some of it. And then Berkey, for those that are watching that didn't get a chance to watch is Ryan Reeves against Matthew Olivier. And then I want to get your thoughts on Ryan Reeves' comments afterwards.

So this is, you know, towards the end of the second period, face off at Center Ice, Olivier and Reeves throw down. And this is, like, there's nothing cute about this one. These are two very strong, dangerous hockey players who are engaging. Matthew Olivier is probably the toughest fighter in the entire NHL. There have been teams that have been trying to get him away from Don Waddell for years and years, not just the fighter either, good penalty killer and, you know, starts a lot of games. He ends up dropping Reeves there in this one.

But what I found interesting was, after the game, Berkey, Ryan Reeves was interviewed about why he fought Matthew Olivier. Give this one a listen. So, Ryan, what precipitated that fight that you've had? You know, they had no momentum, and Olivier asked me. And, you know, if I say no, and I need one later, you know, he's going to say no. There's not a lot of guys that are willing to give guys anymore. So, you know, I know in the future one day I'm going to need one from him and I'm sure he'll give it to me. So that's, that's all

that was. Okay, so I thought of you when I heard those comments because there's a couple of things in there. One, they had no momentum and he wanted one and I might need one one day and I want him to give it to me. And two, he sort of snuck it in there really quietly. He said, guys don't do that anymore if someone needs one guys won't give it to them Bob Probert gave it to everybody it doesn't matter whether you're a rookie

you didn't matter of your vet you want to win Bob Probert would always give you one A what did you make of the fight and B what did you make of Ryan Reeves's comments afterwards well it's a hell of a fight I mean obviously Revo caught a good one and a second one he went down but you can't win

the only way you can lose a fight like that is if you try to win If you just try and hang on and not throw punches or throw defensive punches, you're not going to get your ass kick. But if you try to win, that's when you get yourself. That's a lot of credit. Revo, a lot of credit, trying to win the fight against the heavyweight champion

in the league right now with Matthew Olivier. And certainly there was a great that was, his comments were excellent. You know, the idea, though, and this used to be, Like, what's the point? I know it's a different league, although it is sort of trending back in some ways. The idea that is a least sneaky comment by saying,

most guys won't do that anymore. What did you think of that comment? I think it's true. I think it used to be, if you asked a guy for a fight, sometimes it's 5-0 and you don't want to give me any momentum or whatever. Sometimes you might say no, but usually you'd say we play again in six games. I'll fight you that,

I'm not going to give any life right now, but at least you'd take the fight. You'd agree to take it in a future time. Now the players just say no. They're not interested in that. So I like the, not a code, I guess, but I like the rules of engagement were that he took the fight, he took a beating, and I'm still laughed about it, which is a great part of our game, I think. And you're right. It's coming back a little bit, which I think is a good thing. Yeah, I mean, no one's running for the exits, no one's calling the police, everybody enjoyed themselves, everybody knows the score, nobody got jumped.

Two guys that understood what they were doing and have both done it for quite some time. I want to get in some questions for you here. I do have, by the way, I do have a little treat for you before we leave. something that I think you'll at least find interesting. First off, we're going to go to the new sheet line where people can leave questions for the program here, and we put it out specifically to you, Brian Burke. Zach, you want to fire off the first question for Berkey?

Give me a second. Okay, let me do this one. So Griffin, so I got a couple of Twitter questions. This one is interesting. You've told the story before, but I don't think you've told it here, from seven-year Christchurch. Ask Berkey why he wears his necktie like that.

The necktie story. I saw my Morgan Riley Pride sweater. See that? Yeah, 44. There you go. My buddy Morgan, and that's his pride sweater. I bought it at auction. Very proud of Morgan Riley, very proud of my pride involvement.

Yes, sir. I used to work very early in the morning. He used to go to work at 6 o'clock in the morning. So I worked for Pat Quinn. He would show up around 7. I would go in jeans and a T-shirt. We'd go over, Pat would tell me what he wanted me to do that. Then we'd go over at sometimes a half hour, sometimes an hour.

8, 8.30, I'd go downstairs and work out, put on my suit and go upstairs to work. So the last guy I did was tie my tie. So I just stole it over my shoulders. They'd go up and start working. I tie my tie when I needed to. Maybe it was a bank meeting at 1030 or 11. Maybe it was right before the game. And I said, out of sheer laziness, I stop, it's not a fashion statement, it's just laziness.

But it turned into the great NHL fashion statement. It's the, it's the Berkey tie. It's been synonymous, it's become synonymous with you. All right, let's get this question. And Zach's got the audio question on the sheet line. Shoot, Zach. Hey, Berkey, General Sarnas here. As a manager, did you ever operate under the premise of, if we lose this game, I have to move on the

coach. I've always wondered if managers operate like that. If it comes down to winning or losing one game, doesn't that give you your answer right there? Thanks, Berkey. I remember when we fired Bob McCam and it came down on one game. We played the Rangers. We actually played while we outshot them. But we made the decision. They lost the room and it was time to make a change. We changed the coach after the game. So yes, it can turn on one game. But you got You've got to get pretty far down the road for it to hinge on one game. Too much, and it just become relentless with the booing. Well, I was saying with Ron Wilson, like you said.

It's too much 18,000 people. Wilson. I wasn't going to put him to that again. You mentioned Morgan Riley in the Pride jersey. One of the things that always stuck with me, and this would go back to the... 2012 draft, where you took Morgan Riley in the first round. I know one of the things, one of your pet peeves, is baseball hats at the draft and not wanting your players to wear them.

And then subsequently, parents calling you to thank you for not putting baseball hats on their sons. Can you go over that? We're talking with so much about codes today. Can you go over that, Berkey Code? Yeah, that started with Chris Brown. When I drafted him, I said no hats. and Steve Solomon, who worked for the NHL, threatened to find me $10,000 if the player didn't put a hat on. I said, send me the chess.

Send me the fine. I didn't like the draft photos. You can't see the player's face, so I wouldn't let my players wear a ball cap. And they're saying me at the draft and afterwards, call me or send me to know and say, thank you for another time I wear a ball cap. So if everyone does it now, it looks good. I get the, we sell the merch, but I think it looks better without it. Did you get fined $10,000? No.

Okay, from Robert Moonich, or Munich, what does Berkey think about this situation the Calgary Flames are in, mushy metal slash retooling, and what was it like working for Murray Edwards? Does he let management do their jobs, or does he interfere? you are always curious about the dynamic between executive and owner, Berkey. What about Murray? Well, I like working for Murray. Murray's a good guy. He's a very, very bright guy.

I remember I flew on his private jet a couple times, and the amount of work he did on a flight, he would go through a stack of paper reading this thing like three feet out, go through a stack of memos and emails and unbelievable his work ethic. And I was a hard worker. So if I can say it works hard, Murray's very hard and he works real hard. I like working for Murray. Ken came was the guy I dealt with. And Ken did not interfere much at all, nor did Murray.

Anything we did that was good, we will take credit for it. Anything was bad, we'll take the blame for it. Do you have a thought on the flames right now? It's that tough spot. I think they're playing extremely well. I think Ryan Husk is getting as much out of him as he can. And I think you've got to solve the Rasmus Anderson situation and see what happens next. There's going to be a massive, and there already is, massive, massive market for Rasmus Anderson.

You know, I know, I'm sort of pointing at Vegas here, but, like, I don't know. I wouldn't even be surprised if he ended up with a Detroit Red Wings, to be honest with you. He's a really good player. He's a really good kid. He's a right shot D. He's going to have a great, command a great price. Even in the stress sale. it's hard to get full value when everyone knows

you're trying to move the player but I think they'll do well on this one I mentioned sort of Detroit for a reason here like they've always done well with Swedish hockey players specifically defensemen and they have they have a ton of good young Swedish

defensemen right now but you know all of a sudden like the Detroit Red Wings they look like they're they look like they're there but really they're close they need like one more top six forward they need one more top 4D a veteran. That's why I wonder about Rasmus Anderson. Do you have

a thought or two on what we're seeing out of the Detroit Red Wings right now? And is this, is the Eiser plan finally starting to come together? I think it's an indictment of how bad the East is. Really, it's amazing to me Detroit

making light of Tom McClellan. I think he's great. Steve Eisenman is a wonderful guy. He's had a great job. I like their team. But it's an indictment of the Eastern Conference to me that they're in first place in the Atlantic or whatever it is and they're in now. I think it's amazing to me how good the West is

and how poor are the top top heavy part of the West is and how other than a couple of top teams, the East is so poor right now. Okay, let me close on this. A little treat for you. This comes to us courtesy of a tweet from my good friend Joey Kenward in Vancouver.

Rod Buskis. When I say that name, Berkey, what comes to your mind? Tough Rod Buskis. I love Rod Buskis. I loved having him. He's a hard-nosed player. He's a real good teammate. Quality guy.

I love him. Okay, so you'll love this one. He just retired from his second career. This is a video that popped up today on Instagram. Zach, you want to play the first little bit of this? Today's flight from Las Vegas to Honolulu is a very special one for us. And for many on board, we have the distinct honor of celebrating the retirement of your captain and Rod Buskis, who is flying his final trip.

On a personal life of note, I want to say how grateful I am to call this... How about that, Berkey. Rod Buskis retires his second job, commercial pilot for Hawaiian Air. Now, you had him when you're with the Vancouver Canucks, you, and Pat traded him in that Tony Tanti deal once upon a time. A quick thought on... Because when we think of, like, hockey players turn pilots, a lot of us think about Al-Cicord, but Rod Buskis,

just retired as well. His second job as a commercial airline pilot. Your thoughts? I heard he was flying, and I would have taken a flight with Rod Buskis any. I trust them completely. I trust them as a player. I trust him as a coach.

Good man. Happy for him. Good job, Busker. And you know what? From that era, too, there were a lot of guys that were raw bone tough, and Rod Buskis was one of those guys, Berkey. He was tough.

He was. Wonderful man. Yeah, well, congratulations on a wonderful second career for Rod Buscassus. Burkey, you enjoy the rest of your afternoon. It's always a pleasure catching up. Thanks for sharing some of your insights and a couple of memories of Rod. Do you remember making that deal with Pat? Because that was a massive Vancouver deal.

Tony Tanti was a really good player. I hated putting him in the deal, but I remember when Pat said, oh, God, we're trading Tony. I'm like, the best tip guy I've ever had in my life, best puck tip guy I've ever had. They used a stick about seven feet long. A little guy could get out in traffic areas and tip, tipped and redirected pucks as well as anyone I've ever had. Really good guy. Love it.

Great stuff. All right, Berkey. We'll check back in seven days. Thanks, pal. Thanks. I said 16 hours last night, every day this week, every day this month. I can't get out my head. ambitions day to day

because you can call it all right I went to the document you tried to give me a little medicine I'm like now and that's fine I'm not against those methods but new it's me and myself and how this going to be fixing my mind

I do want a bracket I turned on the music I do want to break up on the music wist enough and a battle that you're sometimes losing have been on the days that we're wrong