The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Sheet: Brian Burke on the Maple Leafs Rollercoaster and Coaching Carousels

Episode Date: May 17, 2025

Brian Burke joins Jeff Marek on The Sheet. Discussing the Maple Leafs playoff rollercoaster, the coaching carousel, Vancouver's practice facilities, Jim Rutherford, and much more...Up Close with Stephen Brunt ft. Jim Rutherford: https://youtu.be/FT6EBCxUGdgShout out to our sponsors!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼Ninja Kitchen Canada: https://www.ninjakitchen.ca/products/ninja-crispi-4-in-1-portable-glass-air-fryer-cooking-system-zidFN101CGY?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=olv&utm_campaign=25Q2-Crispi&utm_content=en👍🏼RVezy: https://www.rvezy.com/owner?utm_source=cross-channel&utm_medium=multi-media&utm_campaign=canadian+hosts👍🏼Budweiser: https://www.budweiser.ca/ca_enReach 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.

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Jeff, thanks for having me on. Sorry about a little noise here. No problem. I know you're a traveling man. You're always busy and you got things to do. We always appreciate you parking some time here. There's a few things from around other series that I want to get to. Things, some coaching issues from around the NHL, a couple of interesting press conferences we've seen this week. But let me start off with the big story and the story really kind of started in game five on Wednesday and we're seeing game six tonight the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Florida Panthers. First of all, before

we get to tonight's game, coming out of that game five where we saw jerseys on the ice and booing and everything What were your main takeaways from that performance by the the team that you once ran? Well, I would be discouraged if I were the least only because there were two games like that not one It's easy for a game to slip away from you. It's easy for a team to lose the game We see it all the time in the playoffs even the second and third round Team will fall behind give them a couple quick goals and all of a sudden the game. We see it all the time in the playoffs, even the second and third round. Team will fall behind, give them a couple quick goals, and all of a sudden the game slips away. But where it happens twice in a row, that's concerning. That's what I think as Leaf fans

worried the most is how do you lose it two games in a row at the most critical time in the year? You know, it was one of those games too, where even though the Maple Leafs haven't been eliminated from the playoffs yet, Berkey, it seems as if everybody has sort of written their autopsy in advance of game six here. Now the Florida Panthers can close out the Maple Leafs, that's the obvious comment, but you know, when you look at, and we've had plenty of conversations about this, Brian, and the core four, specifically Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Tavares, obviously, their performances all coming into question, specifically the captain and number 16 Mitch Marner. Your thoughts on these two players right now? I mean, there's moments where you define your career.

There was going to be one on Wednesday that didn't go so well. We'll see what happens tonight. You have a thought on Marner and Matthews right now. I mean, there's moments where you define your career. There was going to be one on Wednesday that didn't go so well. We'll see what happens tonight. You have a thought on Marner and Matthews right now. I'm going to differentiate them because I believe Austin Matthews is injured. I'm not sure how serious it is or how, you know, what kind of therapy is needed, what kind of surgery. I never throw a player under the bus at the end of the season until I make sure on injury. I don't think Mitch is. I think Mitch is just scuffling a little bit, but he can fix all that. They can rewrite this narrative. There's two games left if they win tonight. They can rewrite this

whole narrative. So I'm not doing doom and gloom just yet. I'll ask the Matthews. I'm going to wait and see what the injury is and how severe it is. your point of view. I mean it seems like it was five minutes ago It's game three and the Maple Leaf scored two quick goals. This is last Friday They scored two quick goals and then it's three. What's that last Friday that close? Yeah Last Friday, yeah, and and here we are now. They're on the verge of elimination Yeah. And, and here we are now they're on the verge of elimination. Is it too simple to say that they got saves from Bobrowski? Like I think Almay police fans and the reliefs organization are wondering, how did it come to this inside of seven days?

I think it's a fair question because I don't think it's all gold. I don't think they got gold. I think Bobrowski has been brilliant when he needs to be. I think Joseph Wall has been more than adequate. I don't blame him for the collapse. So no, I don't think it's that simple. But blame the goalies. There's a lot more involved here. They're getting beaten to pucks. They're losing physical battles. They seem disinterested at times. That's not a good luck. You know, the physicality thing is something that I think, and rightfully so, people have keyed in on.

And I've looked at that, the Aaron Echblad goal on Wednesday, the very first goal, and there's five Maple Leafs players below the hash marks battling for the puck. And I use the term battling loosely, because it's just long stick, long stick, long stick. Nobody is engaging physically at all. The puck squirts free to Aaron Echblad. And next thing you know, it's one nothing Florida Panthers.

To me, it just, honestly, Berkey, it looks like, and listen, the Panthers just did this at Tampa too. It looks like the Panthers are bullying the Maple Leafs. Like whatever they want to do, they go out there, they can do it. I think in the first two games when Toronto was ahead, they weren't getting bullied, but that's Florida's MO and that's part of their DNA and they've shifted the narrative. It is bullying now. They're taking advantage of them physically.

And that then wasn't there the first two games. I'm not sure what flipped that switch. It's not like Florida changed personnel. They did go with a heavier fourth line. Gadjadich and that group. It does help them that way, but not that much. They don't play that much. Whenever I see Paul Maurice put AJ Greer in, I always say to myself, okay, so he's trying to put the accent on physicality here. One of the things that I'm always interested in is hearing you talk about Sam Bennett. And we talked about Sam Bennett a lot around foreign nations, and we always talk about Sam Bennett come playoff time.

This is nothing new to you. Like, playoff Sam Bennett, I can still remember in Calgary, he was a guy going after a Vander Cane and fighting everybody, and like, he's mr. Playoffs Do you have anything more that you can add about Sam Bennett based on your experience with him in Calgary? We were not able to get Sam Bennett going in Calgary. We tried everything we played him on every line We gave him more ice time. We played him with different players. We tried everything he needed that to switch Area codes to get effective.

But he turned into a much more complete player. He had always had the Viking side of him in Calgary. He was a warrior, played hard, fought, won face-offs, killed penalties. But the offense didn't come until we made that move and got him to Florida. He's a complete player now, and he's a warrior with touch and finish. That's a complete player now and he's a warrior with touch and finish.

That's a deadly combination. Now I talked to someone not too long ago and we were talking about Sam Bennett and the idea of him reaching free agency and this person said to me, if he gets a free agency, there is going to be a cattle auction for Sam Bennett. There will be teams lined up around the block. Like I can't think of one team in the NHL that wouldn't want Sam Bennett on their team. Do you think he actually gets there? Like I know the cap situation for Florida, but I always say to myself,

there's no way that Florida can let this guy go. No, and then you can move some things around. They've got the cap going up by eight million. They should be able to keep Sam. I think they will. Phil Zito has a very good relationship with his players. He's pretty creative. I think he'll get him signed.

Or he doesn't want to go anywhere. I wouldn't imagine. I mean, he's comfortable there. He's playing well. They like him there. It fits his personality. I don't know that Sam Bennett, you know, wants the big bright lights of a Toronto, Montreal, New York. He's happy there. He really enjoys himself. I mean, you mentioned Bill Zito there, Berkey,, I do wonder from a general manager point of view, when Zito got the team, the first thing he did was bring in Patrick Hornquist.

Just like a miserable SOB to play against and it seems as if ever since that move, like that was the signal that this is what he wanted the Florida Panthers to be. That they weren't gonna be the pushovers anymore, that the only tough game in Florida was gonna be against the Tampa Bay Lightning. He wanted a nastier team and it was Bennett and Mikaela comes in, Brad Marchand most recently as well, like really tough, miserable players to play against. That to me screams Brian Burke team.

Like when I look at the Panthers, I say Burke, you would love to manage this team. I think it's a Brian Burke team. Like when I look at the Panthers, I say, Burke, you would love to manage this team. Yeah, I think it's a Brian Burke team for sure because it's not just the grit and the toughness, the third and fourth lines and the size, the defensemen who play big, it's also they got stars. They can win, they can be with stars. That's the key to winning a championship. And each star players, they've got stars. Fourth line's nowhere near as important as the first two lines. Do I hit you with a hypothetical here? Let's say that the Florida Panthers win tonight, complete the comeback, four wins in a row, and the Toronto Maple Leafs are dispatched

in six. What happens then to the Maple Leafs? Like I know that maybe the answer lies more with Keith Peli than Brad Treleving or Brendan Shanahan or anybody on that team or Craig Borubey, but as you sort of project out, Leafs win, sorry, Leafs lose tonight, what happens next in Toronto? That's a hypothetical, Jeff, you know better than that. A lawyer's

not gonna answer a hypothetical. Nice try though. I do believe, I don't think this is a foregone conclusion. I believe Toronto can win tonight. I predict they will win tonight, despite the last two games. I think they're good enough to do it. I don't think the season's over.

And we'll have the post-mortem if and when we need to. All right, so we'll save a week and we'll either be doing a post-mortem on the Florida Panthers or on the Toronto Maple Leafs. Washington Capitals, we can do the post-mortem here. We can get the rubber gloves on on this one. This was like, when you look at the Washington Capitals season,

there was the Ovechkin chase and subsequent beating of the Wangreski goal record, leading the Eastern Conference. There was, of course, the beating of the Wayne Gretzky goal record, leading the Eastern Conference. There was, you know, of course the march of the playoffs and some other different players emerged. Brian McClellan and Chris Patrick did a wonderful job, you know, adding and complimenting this team in the offseason. Yet somehow, and I understand it, bowing out to Carolina and five really feels like it made it a disappointment. Do you consider this capital season a disappointment?

We heard that word a lot last night. Yeah, I do because they had such a great year. I really think you have to change how you play Carolina. You have to change completely. You can't just say we're going to play harder than they do because you can't do that. You have to change. You have to go to my mind, less direct, more indirect passing, more D to D, more deliberate approach up the ice, not playing in the speed game, which they kill you at. And they just sight, you look at watching the game last night against Washington, every time you look at the puck,

you look on the TV TV you see a Washington player There's a Carolina player with a safe line of them. Yeah, their coverage is unbelievable And they stifle we shut you down my mind. You gotta get her trying to get uneven attacks like outnumbered attacks Flood one side need an unconventional approach instead of just saying we're gonna play play Carolina, we're just going to play them harder. You know this is um 50th anniversary of the of the Washington Capitals. I mean this is a 1974 uh 1974 expansion team um just you know when I say the when I say the name Washington Capitals uh and you know you've you've watched this you know this this entire organization

from its infancy even though you were a player back then what do you think of like when you see when you see because this is like this is a huge season for Washington when you hear that name Capitals what do you think of I think the cup changes everything and once you win a Stanley Cup the pedigree of your organization changes forever and that's somewhat self-serving because I won one and Anaheim had changed our trajectory for sure but I think around line was your organization changes forever. And that's somewhat self-serving because that 1-1 in Anaheim had changed our trajectory for sure. But I think of Rod Langway as the first player I think of. Rod Langway was such a great player, such a great defenseman, such a great guy. I think of him

as really the epitome of the Capitals when they were struggling. You know, and there was that that really cool Patrick division as well, you know, and there was that really cool Patrick division as well, you know, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, the Islanders, the Washington Capitals, that was a fun division. Carolina Hurricanes advance, they'll face off in the Eastern Conference final against either the Maple Leafs or the Florida Panthers.

You mentioned that Rod Brindemore's team essentially skates in your hip pocket. What do you make of that style? Like we don't see a ton of man to man as much as Carolina does. It does leave a lot of open ice out there. We've talked about that before, but you have a thought on, on what we're seeing from Carolina here. That's a, that's a tough team to play against.

Oh, he's a great coach. He's been in the playoffs every year for a reason because he's a great coach. But I'm not sure that style. He won one championship before Rod got there as coach. Not sure that style leads to a championship we're going to find out. But I think that they stifle you, they put you to sleep. It's not scintillating hockey, but it is impressive. It is a man to man. I'm convinced, everyone says man to man. I'm convinced every team in the league goes man to man when they break up in their own zone. Once they get in the attacking zone, everyone's man-to-man anyway pretty well. So I don't

think that's the end-all and be-all. I think it's certainly their DNA and it works for them. You know you mentioned Rod Langway a second ago and he was a defensive defenseman, like one of the greatest defensive defensemen of all time. And the Carolina Hurricanes boast someone who doesn't get a lot of headlines, but the coach raves about him. His teammates rave about him. I think he was the best overall player in the entire Four Nations tournament, and that's Jacob Slaven. Jacob Slaven's not going to put up points like Quinn Hughes and Cale McCarr and Adam Fox. We all know that. But as far as being a defensive

defenseman, you can't get pucks under his stick, you can't get around him, he knocks down pucks like he's Nick Lidstrom. Do you have a thought or two on Jacob Slaven Burkey? Yeah, I've been paying more attention to him because I don't think I've been paying enough attention to him. He is a great defenseman. He's the best two-way defenseman in the league and they're talking about starting a second trophy for a defensive defenseman, which I would not be in favor of. If they do that, it's got to be Jacob Slavin. It's got to be the first winner. He's amazing. How he shuts people down. He draws tough assignments every night. He's a great

player. And no panic ever. The Oilers are through to the Western Conference final. They got their scare early against the Los Angeles Kings, dispatched them and then came back and knocked off Vegas, overtime hero, Kasperi Kapanen there. And through all of it, Stuart Skinner with back to back shutouts. Do you have a thought now that Edmonton is through to the Western conference final and what we're seeing from McDavid and company?

Oh, the first two guys, McDavid and Dreisaitler, two best players in the league. And they did what they're supposed to do with, they got secondary scoring. They have a new look since they made the changes. They brought in Trent Frederick. They brought in a Vander Kane. They have a bigger, uglier, meaner look. They're much tougher to play against. They brought in Troy Sketch, who I think has done a real good addition as a smaller guy. But they changed their team in the middle of the playoffs, which is hard to do. And they responded brilliantly. So I think they're for real. I think a lot of credit goes to Chris Knoblach and the coaching staff for the changes they made.

It's not the same group that was losing earlier in the playoffs. It's a team and Skinner has been unreal. He's been unbelievable. So you have to give the coaches credit. Those are all changes that they made. And it does seem as if as well, and we've seen this plenty from, from Connor McDavid, you're not going to see Connor McDavid smile. It's like Nathan McKinnon, right?

With Colorado. You're not going to know if he has upper teeth at all until this team wins a Stanley cup, like they knock off the Vegas Golden Knights and he's in the dressing room and there's no smiles. There's no smiles. Like this guy is like, okay, we're halfway there now. That's it. I saw a couple. Earlier in the series he smiled a couple times after they stopped him. He got

Robb on a save and he laughed about that. I thought okay he's showing some human side do I like it. Dallas and Winnipeg like I think we just look at this one and say the Winnipeg Jets are gonna come just look at this one and say the Winnipeg Jets are going to come and go with Conor Hellebuck and when he's on you can't get anything by him. Not that he had you know 40 shots against him, he was only 22 last night against Dallas, but Hellebuck was phenomenal. That save on Harley, you know kept it scoreless, keeping Winnipeg in there, next thing you know, Shifeley scores, Ehlers with a pair in the third period, 4-0 is the final. Is it too easy, Berkey, to say that this series is going

to be dictated by how Connor Hellebuck plays and that's it? No, I don't think it's too early. I don't think it's over simplistic. I think it's factual. Connor has to have the game of his life because the Finnish connection is alive and kicking in Dallas. They've got great balance scoring too, so he's gonna have to play the game of his life and come back to Winnipe alive and kicking in Dallas. Yeah. They've got great balance scoring too. So he's going to have to play the game his life, and go back to Winnipeg and do it again. Cause it's unfair to put it on one guy, but that's what it is here. He plays great.

Uh, and it seems to only be able to do it at home. Uh, he needs to break that spell if the Winnipeg Jets are going to move on. Uh, we'll see what happens in game six. Rick Taukett off the ice here. Rick Taukett takes the job in Philadelphia. He's the new, uh, the new bench boss. Um, one of the things that his press conference he talked a lot about was the practice facility.

And we all know about the Vancouver Canucks and their struggle to get a practice facility built. I don't know if that was a deliberate shot at Vancouver as much as it was. Look at all these resources I have here in Philadelphia. Do you have a thought on Rick Tauket now coaching the organization you used to be a part of when you were a player? Oh they have a great practice facility. It's in New Jersey. It's not in Philly. It's on the other side of the river. But the fact of the matter is we had a when the Olympics came

in 2010 we put in for a practice rink we built at UBC. Turned out being the practice rink for the second pool, so the lesser tier games played there. We had a full facility being built. I don't know what happened after I left, but it was all set, all papered, all financed, everything was ready to go. But the fact of the matter is, the Vancouver Canucks don't use the

outdoor rink or a third facility like Britannia or one of the community rinks more than about 12 times a year. Their building isn't that busy. So they get to practice at Pacific Coliseum, wherever GM place, wherever it is now. They get to practice there almost every day, so it's not that big a hardship as they say. Adam Foote takes over as the next head coach of the Vancouver Canucks was an assistant with Rick Tauket. Bricky, I kind of looked at this and said they got down to their internal candidates pretty fast. Like pretty fast it was going to be either Emmanuel Houtreau or Adam Foote here. And it looks as if, to me anyhow, the Vancouver Canucks are leaning into one of the strengths that they have,

and that's the blue line led by Quinn Hughes. How did you see the Adam Foote hiring? And do you have a thought or two on Adam Foote, both the, not just the coach, but as a player as well? Well, I respect him as a player. He played hard and he was a defense, the most of the great coaches in the history of NHL have been defensemen. Everyone thinks I was a defenseman because my stats are so poor but I wasn't. I was a fourie with no ability. The fact of the matter is most of the

great players that go on to coach are defensemen and the fact of the matter is this guy was a steady thinking, conscientious defenseman way back, not just tough. He played hard, he played in every situation, thought the game well, worked for good coaches, learned his craft. I like the higher. I think he's gonna do a real good job. Mm-hmm. You know, Jim Rutherford was in conversation with Stephen Brunt, an interview that they recorded last week that we released on his Up Close podcast this week at the Nation Network. And you know, one of the interesting things that Rutherford said was, you know, we like

our blue line, we like our goaltending, we need to fix our forwards. We're hoping we can do that in the off season. Doesn't sound like Rutherford wants to trade any picks and doesn't want to trade any prospects, but something has to be done about that forward group. When you look at the Vancouver Canucks, and so much is gonna depend on what happens with Elias Pedersen here.

What goes through your mind with that forward group? Well, if you're not gonna move any picks or prospects, it's pretty hard to up your team unless you're signing free agents. Signing Canadian free agents is not that easy as a lot of teams have found out the hard way. Caps going up, they should be able, it's a very attractive place to play, but the travel's tough and the taxes are tough. So it's going to be hard to upgrade unless you can do a buy trade. But Jimmy is a great trader. You know that he's a riverboat gambler. He'll take big chances.

I love the way he does things, but it's a tall order. I am curious about, listen, you were, you both managed in the NHL at the same time. What was your relationship or what were the conversations like with Jim Rutherford when, when you both ran teams? It was like, uh, one of the older guys. He was like one of those thieves that used to work in the league when I first got there. Glenn Seder, Harry Sinnin. Jimmy was a little bit like that, but he was a little more like a modern guy where they want to try and make a deal that works for both teams, but if he could skin you he would. What was the line?

Do you remember which deals you made with Weatherford specifically? I'm trying to track my brain. We got Merrick Malik for a small check forward. I can't remember his name but that trade worked out well of course but I know Jimmy got me on another one. I forget what it was. What was it you told me a while ago? You judge, back then you guys judged trades based on the other guy got fired. Oh yeah, he got fired. That was a good deal. That's what Harry said and told me once.

The good deal is when the other guy gets canned. I thought, oh boy, I'm in trouble. You know, I was talking to someone earlier today and we're talking about, and actually, you know what, Patrick has mentioned this to me as well, that how unique it is to hear managers talk to one another about business and then completely change once the conversation is over. Like you guys will be yelling and screaming and cussing at one another and then when the business part of the conversation is done, it's it's like hey we're having a barbecue next week why don't you come on over it's always one of the unique things

you know good sob hey how's the family that's true there's a code there's the civility that's required to family and friends and people around you you have to act a certain way in front of people like mike keenan i had differences with him, but he was always nice to my kids. That's part of the code, part of what you do and how you behave. It's an important part of the job.

Well, listen, having you on is an important part of our job, thanks. I know you got a plane to catch. Thanks as always for stopping by. We'll see you tonight. I mean, this is a big one for a lot of players on that Toronto Maple Leafs team. The Florida Panthers can advance the face off against the Carolina Hurricanes or

everyone's going back to Toronto for Sunday. Thanks, Berkey. Safe travels, pal. Thanks, Jeff. I can't get out my head Lost all ambitions day to day Guess you can call it a ride I went to the dark man He tried to give me a little medicine I'm like, no, man, that's fine I'm not against those methods but I knew It's me and myself and how this gonna be fixing my mind I do want to break it I turned on the music I do want to break it I turned on the music

Fixing up their battle that they sometimes lose Helping on the days that went wrong