The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Sheet: Brian Burke on the Department of Player Safety, How Trades Work, Playoff Format, and more

Episode Date: March 21, 2026

Jeff Marek is joined by Brian Burke for a wide-ranging conversation that touches on everything happening around the NHL right now, from Burke’s latest experiences in the game to his perspective on the league’s biggest storylines. The two dive into the ongoing controversy surrounding the NHL Department of Player Safety, the scrutiny it continues to face, and how discipline is being handled across the league before shifting to a full breakdown of the latest NHL GM Meetings, including key topics, rule discussions, and what changes could be coming next.#TheSheet #NHL #Hockey #JeffMarek #BrianBurke #DavidPagnotta #NCAA #KHL #NJDevils #NHLDOPS #HockeyNews #NHLRumorsReach 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/@Flames_Nation🚨 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 a man that's worn a number of hats and a number of different times. His name has been uttered because he was the first to wear the badge for the NHL, heading up what we now know as the Department of Player Safety. Joining us from Bulldogs Land in Brantford, Ontario, he is Brian Burke. Burkey, first of all, thanks for joining me. What are you doing? What are you doing in Spencer Heiman country? Spencer Heimann, I've become friends with Spencer.

I've just kind of watching them play a few games. I've been to maybe half a dozen games. Yeah. trying to help out a little bit. Not really a formal role, just trying to help out. Well, I mean, that team, we were there a couple of weeks ago, and we were there for the Oshawa game, and Michael And Lowers, the inaugural entrant into the Bulldogs Hall of Fame,

and it was a lovely evening, and they beat the Ashawad Generals, and, you know, when you look up and down the lineup, and you've seen junior hockey teams like this before, Jake O'Brien, Caleb Malhotra, Merrick Van Acker, Adam Urecheck, Adam Uricheck, like Jetlitch. It just goes on. Jay McKee behind the bench, one of the top coaches in the CHL.

Like it's a really impressive group here that Hyman's put together. It really is. They've got a really balanced team. They've got lots of weapons. They've got good goal tend to get a good coach. So it's really fun to be around this group. Ben Danford should probably throw his name in there as well, Maple Leaf Traffic.

Really quickly, just because I'm a really big fan of Jay McKee. And Berkey, I think that one day he's going to, coach in the NHL, whether there's a stop in between in the American League, maybe a stop as an assistant coach on an NHL bench. You remember him as a player, Buffalo Sabres, St. Louis Blues. He would do anything to win a hockey game, block a shot, get in a fight, whatever.

Your thoughts on on Jay McKee before I move on to more current issues? I like the way they play. I like he's a real good coach. I think he's going to be an NHL coach if that's what he wants to do. I'm very impressed with his demeanor. He's low-key. He doesn't get excited, but he gets into the guy's heads the right way. I really like him.

Okay. News of the week, and we'll get into the Jack Hughes Buck story here coming up in a couple of seconds, and the story is starting to at least finally wind down. But there was a lot this week, and it bled right into the general manager's meetings, and we'll get into that with the Department of Player Safety and supplemental discipline. And Connor McDavid, having a conference. comment about process and Judd Moldaver from the team representation agency, you know, talking quite openly and candidly of his displeasure about the five-game suspension to Radco

Gudas for the knee on Austin Matthews. We've all had a few days to digest it and think about it. I've always maintained that there's no one better to ask about it than you, considering you wore the badge for a number of years in the NHL. What are your thoughts on what just happened over the past seven days in the NHL around suspensions. Well, what happened was the run-on-the-mill routine suspension to a star player was met with great acrimony and great

pitterness by a number of people. I say everyone, just step back. The system works. It works well. I don't think it was a vicious hit on Austin Matthews. In other words, it was a suspenseful hit. I think he should have got seven on five. But we can call about the number.

that's that's that's that's George Perrose's job he's the best at it but it wasn't like he had on him this guy he lined up for a hit Austin Matthew Zing player stuck his knee out he hasn't been up in five years for suspension so to me taking a making a mountain out of a molehill it's unfortunate you can't say a molehill but wasn't a player of Austin Scalibur

I love this kid but boy it's a big stink about nothing for me. There was a lot of talk this week about, you know, process. You know, and that was, you know, one of the words that Connor McDavid did when he commented on it over the weekend. It's not as if there's a dartboard that the Department of the Player's Safety's just sort of throws darts at. And I've maintained this from day one. You know, there's history that they base it on. And it's not just George Perros waking up one.

morning and saying this one feels like a five to me was you know there's there's people in the department that george talks to there's people around the nchel that george consults with ultimately he does have the final say but it's not as if he does this in a vacuum and it's not as if he doesn't use historical precedent for the suspensions having said all that correct me if I'm wrong here, Berkey, but like they, if the general managers wanted to turn the heat up here and say, you know what, that five, next year, let's make that a 10. Or you know that 10, next year, let's make that a 15. If the managers wanted it, like, they could do that.

I just don't think at the end of the day, and this is why I think this is going nowhere, Berkey. I don't think managers look at this game and say, we wouldn't want a bunch of 10 or 15 game suspensions that are out there. We don't want our players out that long. I hear these idiots say, well, every knee should be 15 games. Yeah, you can do that. You can make it an automatic.

You can make it like a speeding ticket. Six miles an hour over. It's $100, right? You can do that, except they're all different. You know, get rid of hitting at the same time. This is done not just a really good bunch of players, George Perros, Stefan Cantell. Colin Campbell did it.

I did it. Brandon Shanahan did it. I mean, Brian Whitney, he's all these key people, my son Patrick, all these people have worked on this with the union. Like, I understand this. The union has a lot to say too. They design the system. So here's what I want to get to. I'm glad you got it to the union question because the union here is in, as we've all discussed countless times.

They're in a conflict of interest situation here too. Because one, they're there to defend Austin Matthews yet at the same. same time, still there to defend Radco Gudis. And I can't see a scenario where the NHL and Players Association sign off on a third party handling suspensions. This league and this players association doesn't want an outside agency deciding who's on the ice and who's off the ice and those off the ice. They're going to decide how long they are off the ice.

Like, honestly, Brian, I don't know that there's an easy way or an easy fix. I keep asking people, well, what should they do? do? What should be this new model? What should be this new process? And what I get back is, well, I don't know, but this one isn't working. Well, it is working. It works beautifully. It's just the odd one that people don't like. As their team and their star player, they say, it's got to be fixed. It's got to be fixed. The fact of the matter is, the union has signed off on this back from when I did it. The very first change we made at the NHL and the NHLPA was the Brian on the audience to suspend guys.

He fly them in for overnight and it's suspended for two games. So I said to Ian Polver from the union, who was my guy at the union, what do you want to change? He said, the guys hate flying in and again two games. Okay. So if it's five or less, we'll do it by phone. That was the very first change we made, instigated by the union. And we set up everything.

The first, the introduction at the meeting, you go into the hearing, and it says this is hearings can be none of the auspices of the NHL and NHLPA. There are no rules of evidence. A player can have done any evidence he wants. It's all based upon union and the league doing things together and doing things sensibly. No one's going to like every decision. It's like goal interference. No one can agree with everything.

But they do a great job. When you were leveling out, suspense, What was your process? What did you do? Like, what went through your mind? I want to get to that Marty McSorley, Eric Lindraugh story in a second here, which was a fantastic one from your history.

But like, what was your process for handing out suspensions? Well, I sat down me in Pulver, and I looked at some tapes and said, what do you think this is worth? And he wouldn't go first because he wanted me to go first. I'd say, I'd say, I'd say this worth five. So we get a tape who would come in, an incident when coming from the league.

We had four of VCR. back that. Four VCRs taping league stuff. That was that. Someone would send me a tape. I could get a look at the tape. I'd call Ian. You wouldn't get the tape. I'd say Ian, I think it's worth five. He'd say it was four. It's worth four. We'd argue about it. We'd decide. But there was a measurement. Like, this is the elements. The hit itself, how bad it is, whether there's injury, whether it is a repeat offender,

and there's a system to it, and we come up with a number, and it worked. The Marty McSorley, Eric Lindross story is one of my favorites to share. So long, a million years ago, McSorley used to always try to get Eric to fight. And listen, you're Eric Lindross. Like, you're under no obligation to do so. But I guess Lindross had scored a goal. Marty cross-checked him and Eric instinctively threw his gloves off. And I guess probably realized pretty quick.

oh man, I'm in a fight with Marty McSorley. Maybe the last place you wanted to be after scoring a goal. And there was some concern that during the fight, Lindross had bit McSorily. And I can't remember the specifics of you called Marty and you had either seen the tape or you hadn't seen the tape. You had heard about it. A lot of reports about it. And what did Marty say to you when you said, Marty, I need you. need you to tell me, did Eric Lindross bite you or not?

Can you share that story? Yeah, it's true. It sure looked like he did because he had his hand in his mouth. He pulled it away rapidly in great pain. He said, did he bite you or did he not? And he said, no, he did not. He said, you owe me one. Eric, he won't know.

I had to not suspend him. So, see, that's fascinating. Like, that is from, like, that is from such an old school code of, I'm not going to, I'm not going to rat this guy out. Right now, people fall over themselves just to get other players suspended. Back then for Martin McSloy to say, nah, he didn't bite me and, you know, go tell Bobby Clark he owes me one. Like, that's from a different era, Berkey. No, very different.

But there was some, a little bit of a code there, a little bit of honor there. Marty Woodhartie's a great guy. He was really good about stuff like this. General manager's meetings this week. I want to get to a couple of the issues coming out of it, but one of the more memorable, while we're on story time here, one of the more memorable managers meetings ever, and it might have been Betman's first,

was the one where Bob Ganey and Serge Sivard mixed it up. And you were there as an employee of, the NHL. Like, it's not exactly a secret that Bob Ganey and Surtzavar didn't get along when the Montreal Canadians were winning all those Stanley Cups. It happens. Not all players get along. And that sort of bled into both of the managing hockey teams at the same time.

You want to go back and share that story with us? Yeah, we were at Dana Point in San Diego, and it was early on. And Jeff Pash was still there. It was before Bill Daley took over. And these two guys started pushing and yelling and screaming, and they were checking. chest to chest, pushing and yelling and swearing. And Jeff passes, oh, my God, what are we going to do? I said, I'm going to move some chairs.

I want to make room for a fight. And Gary Bevin said, me, you get in there and stop this. So I just thought, but I want to have a good seed for the fight. Bob Ganey versus Serge Savard at a manager's meeting. Coming out of the manager's meeting this year, and I'm sure, like, if the walls could talk at all these meetings. I'm fascinated with managers meetings. One of the things that brought up is,

and this has been going on for a while, the idea of the playoff format and that it needs to be changed, you know, the idea of like you look at the central division, two of those three elite level teams are going to be out within two rounds of each other when really you can make the argument,

man, two of those two teams should be meeting for the Stanley Cup final. Do you have a thought on, because I maintain that even going back to 1967, there's always been arguments around how the playoff format should work. You know, the league doubles to 12 and, you know, the expansion teams are in one and the six established teams are in another. St. Louis goes to the Stanley Cup final every year and doesn't win a single game. Problems with that.

Problems when the Norris Division, if you made 60 points, you got into the playoffs. Well, none of these teams, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Minnesota, They don't deserve to be in the playoffs where all of these other teams that aren't making the playoffs. Dude is like there's never been a time where everybody's been perfectly happy with the playoff format. But given the one that we have now, Berkey, A, do you like it? And if not, do you have another way around it? No, I don't like it. But I've been saying that for years.

This is not new. What bothers me is that you look at this horrible matchup, two and three playing each other in the first round. Dallas and Minnesota. Everyone's like, oh my God, well, it shouldn't be based on one playoff matchup. It should be based on the system. I think the system is not equitable. And I've said that for years. It should be 1 through 8, recede every round.

I don't know why we're not doing this, but not because Minnesota and Dallas have a tough matchup, because what's equitable and what's fairs. You should get the weakest team every time when you recede. A couple of other things coming out of this week as well. Eric Tolski with the Carolina Hurricanes, the reports are I got into a, let's just say, an emotional discussion with the commissioner about the NHL taking its foot off, the seriousness around headshots. How often is it, here's my question, how often is it that managers are aggressive or challenge the commissioner in these meetings? I think it used to be a lot more common.

I know when Glenn Sather and I and Lou Lomrello, we're in the meetings, we often had some spirited debates. I'm told that it's gone by the wayside for the most part. I heard it rear and said again this week. That's not all bad when the commissioner or one of his designates has a heated discussion. That's not all bad. You guys have to see that Gary's got the temper too. and he got a lot to say he's a smart, smart man.

But I don't think it's all a bad one. It's in it with a carrier or Bill Dealey or anyone else. What was it like when you and Slats and Lou, et cetera, were at these meetings? Like, can you sort of walk us through essentially what happens at these things? We talk about, you know, reality TV in the NHL. One, let me see an arbitration hearing. And two, let me see what happens at the manager's meetings.

What's a manager's meeting? like? Generally speaking, well, it's changed over time. When I first went to my first one, Gary, it just started my first meeting where we talked about rules, which is a March meeting now. It was Gary's

first meeting, and so it's very different than it is now. When I came in, Gary said, you run the meetings. You speak, Jerry, me and ran the meetings on behalf of the GMs. And Gary said, no, you run the meetings, so I ran the meeting and one thing Gary insists on his preparation.

We prepared so hard for those meetings. We thought of everything they could go wrong, every possibility, but they didn't get salty at times. Guys would tell me I didn't know what I was doing. You know. I remember Doug McLean, you might have been there as part of this conversation.

When we all used to work together, I remember Doug telling me a story where one of the things that Betman did is and they went alphabetically, you know, from from, from Anaheim down, is Gary Betman had a slide with everybody's salary cap commitments, all the contracts up on a screen and sort of went through them line by line and asked the managers to justify every contract. And I think he either open the meeting or closed the meeting with. These are all the mistakes you guys have made. and now I have to fix them, i.e., we're going to have to go through another lockout here

because you guys can't behave appropriately. Does that resonate with you? No, but I believe it. I don't remember that, but I believe it. We did make some horrible mistakes. I mean, I'm guilty as anyone. We made some horrible mistakes. The problem with the salary cap is becomes a magnet.

Little teams, it was designed to be one-third at the cap, one third at the midpoint, one third below the midpoint. That was the structure it was set up for. It ends up being 80% of the gap. So that's why there's so much escrow money involved. We never hit those numbers. But I wouldn't be offended by that if that had happened. I wish I had a dollar for every mistake I made as a GM.

I wouldn't have to work. But that's the thing. Like when you're in, I always say this, and the same thing with, show me the perfect hockey player. Doesn't exist. Show me the perfect referee. Doesn't exist.

Show me the perfect general match. Doesn't exist. Nikolai Kulman scores 29 goals in Toronto. So I pay him like, okay, he's going to get 30 next year for the next five years. I pay him like a 30 goal score. Never saw 30 again.

So I'm stuck with that one, right? And that's my mistake. But Nikolai Kulman was a great kid, too. We didn't mind paying him. But that's the tech. mistakes you make. We all made them. We all make them still. Let's get a couple of listener questions here. Let's get to Little Willie's question here, Zach, for Brianberg. This one says, I hope you're doing well. I'm reaching out because I'm interested in learning more about the mechanics of a trade.

Could you walk me through exactly what happens during the transaction and how the various stages of the process come together? I would appreciate any insights you can share on how these deals are structured and finalized from some civilian named Willie. Okay, I like the call sign. Okay, so this could be a very lengthy answer. I won't give you a very lengthy answer. I'll give you a shorter one. Some of these trades happen very quickly.

Usually they happen over time. So I would call the other channel. Let's say a guy I like dealing with Paul Homer. I call Paul Homer in Philly. I always lay out exactly what I would move. I'd say, here the drop picks I'd move, here the left winners I would move, here the right wingers I would move,

here the D I would move, to the center of snow goalies. I don't have any goalies I can move. And here's what I need. I need a right wing who can shoot. I need some toughness. I need a D. And see if there's a fit.

There's a fit we'd circle back. Sorry, let's talk some more. There's no fit we move on in four separate ways. but then if there's a fit you say, all right, I'll call you back in an hour and let me look at some of the stuff see if there's a fit, move it closer, move it closer, get some contracts,

sign a guy, maybe you need you to sign, whatever, and then you get closer and closer to a deal. And when the deal is done, the league has to sign off on it. So in these discussions, and I want to get to a Wayne Greskes-key conversation here in two seconds, in these discussions, how often do you strategically, and maybe it just depends on the relationship that you have with the manager, how many times would you strategically want to talk about one player specifically,

but you didn't want to bring them up right away? So you start by talking about a couple of other players and then finally arrive at the player you really wanted to talk about. Does that happen often? That happens a lot, but not with me. There's no sense wasting time. I think you can talk, you figure out right away. Out of 30 GMs, I know there's more than 30, we're out of 30.

There's 10 you can make deals with 10. You can maybe make a deal with. And 10, you have no chance to make a deal with. I would just focus on the first 10. So here's an interesting Wayne Gretzky scenario. This is in Toronto. Bill Waters told me the story when I work with Billy. years ago at a Toronto radio station.

He said he remembers getting a call once from Wayne Gretzky's agent saying, you know, Wayne's always wanted to play for Toronto, close to his hometown. Well, well, you are close to his hometown, wants to, you know, wants to play in Toronto. He'd be willing to play for the Maple Leafs for $1 million. And Bill said, this is incredible. So Bill takes it to Cliff Fletcher. And Cliff says, don't call him back. And Bill's like, what are he talking about?

It's Wayne Gretzky. He's going to come in for a million dollars. said what'll happen is we'll start negotiating with Wayne's agent it'll get out to the media then everybody in Toronto will expect that Wayne Gratzky is going to sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs and one million dollars will turn into three million dollars because the market will expect it from a GM's strategic point of view Berkey does that story surprise you at all or do you look at that and go yeah you know what that's a dynamic we've seen before that exact story happened with us when Wayne Gretzky went to

L.A. Pac-Wan called me and said, the word's getting out that he wants to come to Vancouver got to pour some cold water on it. So the first guy that called me was Gordon Miller. He was working in Red Deer. I gave him the whole trade

and said he's not coming here. And that was just to put cold water on it because we didn't want fans in Vancouver expecting to get Wayne when he knew it wasn't going to come. Amazing. Speaking of Vancouver, I'm pretty sure that Pat, well, listen, Pat, the great Irishman had, I'm sure, a number of superstitions. And I'm always, I'm always curious about superstitions either around the draft lottery or around the draft.

Now, it's going to be May 5th for the lottery this year. What would Brian Burke, as far as lucky charms go, have at the draft? I have a medal that was given to me. I was blessed by Pope Paul. I have two loonies that I had in my pocket when I made the city deal. I carry those. I had a couple other things. The three or four good luck charms I carry with me at all times on big days,

including at the draft and free agency and July 1. So, yeah, I'm superstitious. Has it always been that way for you, Brian, or did you sort of accumulate more superstitions along the way? When I played, I wasn't very superstitious. I just put on my right ski. I always put on the, always tied to the left skate first, right skate, first, right and skate, second, whatever.

Had a sudden routine, but other than that, no, not very soon. Last guy on the ice, last guy off the ice. Taping sticks, heel to toe, gathers no snow, all those things we all grew up with, too. But very wrong in the middle. I play with some guys really superstitious. Well, I mean, a lot of guys, like, you know, don't touch my sticks. That's a superstition.

But can you think of, like, guys that were, like, above and beyond superstitious? Pat Lovett. I played with Pat Lovett of Providence College. He's a right-shot defenseman. Pat Lovett will lay out all the stuff. He had a stick on the one. They put out his gloves and shit pants and they get dressed.

If you touched any of his stuff, you, like, kicked the stick. kicked his shin pet. He would go nuts. He would absolutely go nuts. So, of course, we all tried desperately to kick his stuff. But he's the most

I love. Great guy. He's still around. Most superstitious guy ever played with. Amazing. Listen, on that, we'll let you go. Say hi to all of our friends at the Bulldogs. Spencer and Jay

and Peggy and everybody there. And we'll catch up to you soon. I know you're traveling. Every time I mention it's like, oh, yeah, Burkey was just. Oh yeah, Berkey was just here. You've been everywhere lately, Brian. So we'll talk to you again soon from some other destination.

Where are you off to next? Off to Australia next Wednesday. A week from Wednesday. When's the last time you're in Australia? I've never been. My daughter's a semester abroad at Brisbane, so we're going to see her. That's fantastic. Have a great time and we'll hopefully catch up with you in Australia.

Or when you're back here and we'll hear all about your Australian trip. Thanks so much for doing this as always, Brian. Thanks, too.