The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Sheet: Patrick Burke on Brian Burke Being Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame

Episode Date: June 23, 2026

Patrick Burke joins Jeff Marek to discuss Brian Burke being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, his legacy, mentorship, GM tree, Patrick's ideal speech scenario, and moreSHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!!����🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼 Canadian Blood Services: https://www.blood.ca/👍🏼 Ninja: https://www.sharkninja.ca/ninja-crispi-pro-6-in-1-countertop-glass-air-fryer-rose-quartz/AS101CRS.html?utm_source=Meta&utm_medium=Paid+Social&utm_campaign=H1NinjaCrispi&utm_content=NinjaEN&dwvar_AS101CRS_color=cdb9b8Reach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!#NHL #TheSheet #JeffMarek #DavidPagnotta #TorontoMapleLeafs #LeafsForever #JosephWoll #SamuelErsson #EmilAndrae #PhiladelphiaFlyers #VegasGoldenKnights #JohnTortorella #CHL #DanMacKenzie #MemorialCup #HockeyReach 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.

In the meantime, please to welcome award to the program. No Stranger here and is here for a different reason other than to talk about the All-Star game or the Department of Player Safety or Suspensions. He's a VP of Player Safety, but today he is Brian Burke's son, who's going into the Hockey Hall of Fame, Patrick Burke. Do I call you Little Burkey to Big Berkey?

How would you like to be referred to or a son of a Hall of Famer? How do you want it, Pat? Hall of Fame bloodline sounds pretty good to me. But when I first started working for the Flyers, there was a guy on staff who started calling. me little burkey and I immediately went absolutely not started calling big burkey big burkey and that has stuck so I avoided the little burkey by making him big burkey all right well uh Patrick thank you so much

for stopping by listen it was a I was so happy for your father yesterday I think we all were and I think that like right away I got phone calls from a couple of players from the pw hl that were so happy hey give me brian's number hey give me brian's number and there's a number of different areas that's um that big Berkey touched. And that to me is the definition of someone who helped build the game, capital G game and left it in a better place than when he started. I mean, you know, your dad's bio, high school hockey student or high school hockey player, a American hockey league player with the main Mariners, agent, manager, worked at the league, won a Stanley Cup, outstanding broadcaster initiatives with LGBTQ plus and initiatives of the PWHL. And I remember your

your dad would always say to me, it's not enough just to say you support women's hockey, go buy a ticket. I was like, yeah, you're right. It's one thing to say I support it, but go do something about it. Your thoughts when you first heard the news. Just thrilled for him. As you said, he's done so much in the game from Captain of Providence College. One year in the AHA and he won a Calder Cup with the main Mariners,

then went to Harvard Law. And, I mean, that's a pretty good life for a lot of people, a minor league hockey championship in Harvard Law. and you would have been done there and he'd be pretty happy. And went to be a player agent, has run, you know, six or seven. I think I lost count at this point, different NHL teams as either GM or president of hockey ops, ran the discipline department here at the league, was the head of the players union for the PWHL, was a tremendous broadcaster for a while there.

I mean, as I said, any one of those jobs would be a dream for most people, and he's done them all. So for our whole family, all my siblings, my dad's partner, you know, a whole bunch of people who have supported him along the way. It's incredibly meaningful and touching to see that legacy that he has built over the course of, you know, 40 years in the game, really being celebrated and recognized. So we're proud of him, grateful for him, and happy for the recognition. You know, I always think there's a number of places where I always think of your dad. And one is when the Jim Gregory is handed out, the general manager of the year, because that is something that I know. that and to the point where he just must like, Colin Campbell is going to have like migraines for the rest of his life

because of your dad lobbying for a GM of the year award. Like that has been something that was so special to Brian for so many different years. Do you have a, for so many years rather, do you have a thought on the GM award and your dad's influence on getting this thing done finally? I kept telling him, you know you're not going to win it, right? Like that's, you're not going to, it's not for you. And he said, no, it's not for me. He said, but there's some of the most important people of the game, and they don't get recognized.

When you talk about how you're putting people in the Hall of Fame, you look at individual awards, the GMs never had one. When you talk about when they go and sit down in negotiations with owners and how to increase their salaries and their quality of life, they didn't have specific things that they could point to. And he fought hard with Colie and Gary and Bill for a long time saying this award is meaningful for the GMs. It will help the GMs get recognition for the job. that they do. And he was relentless in getting it through. And now you see, you know, guys who are winning it year after year and getting the recognition that they deserve because they get a moment on stage at the awards or because you go to their Wikipedia and it says, you know, Jim Nill is the multi-time Jim Gregory GM of the Year award. Also love that it's

same for Mr. Gregory. Yes. Just done the right way across the board. But my dad always really believed in trying to help the group, help the other managers. He loved doing the extra media so that they didn't have to. He was always the one to raise his hand in the GM meetings if they wanted to push back on something that Gary or Coley or Bill might have been suggesting. He was happy to be a mouthpiece for them. So he's always had a really great community mindset in terms of helping the other GMs do their job better and develop them as executives, whatever else he could do to help them. I want to talk about, you know, leaving influence and helping younger general managers. But one of the things, and I've told Brian this countless times,

One of the things that I really appreciated as a hockey fan, we see a lot of books from players. We see a lot of books from referees. We see a lot of books from a lot of coaches. We see a lot of books from a lot of different areas of the game, but not managers. And they're the ones that have guided the game. Those are the ones that have made the decisions

that we all live with as fans and watch and we wonder, well, why did that happen that way? Like, your dad always carried with him and always does, this sense of sort of responsibility for the greater good. And I've always felt that, I don't know if an obligation is too strong a word, but I would like to think that people that were in charge of the game that charted its future, right, are at the end of their careers, talk about the decisions they made and why they made them. So you get a snapshot of what happened while they drove the car.

And managers just don't do that, you know. Like there's been plenty of managers that have that have, that have taken all that information and taken it to the afterlife. Your dad wrote a book was Stephen Brunt, and he's probably got at least two or three more in him. And I always respected that. I was like, you know, it's such a Brian Burke thing to do. Like, I made all these decisions. I want everyone to know you can judge them good or bad.

But this is why I made the decisions that I made. And people get a better understanding of, okay, well, that makes sense. Or now I understand that now. I wish more managers would follow that lead. Yeah, I do too. As a executive in sports myself, I've read every sports management book that comes out. Anytime an NFL coach puts out a book, I'm ordering it at NBA, whatever. I'll read anything that a sports executive or coach puts out.

Because even if some of it is useless, you always get tour theory really good things out of it. So I was glad when he wrote that, you know, he's been a part of some of the biggest moments in hockey history. I don't know if he's ever mentioned that he drafted the twins. that's come up a time or two. But honestly, some of the biggest trades in hockey history, some of the bringing Pabell Burry over from Russia, he's been involved in some of the really big, big moments in hockey history. And so I love that he put it down on paper.

I agree. If other GMs start writing them, I'll certainly be buying them and reading them. But, you know, like I said, some of the biggest trades, some of the biggest moves in the game's history were because of him. Is it true that USA hockey offered him a job for life? After 2010, after the Vancouver Olympics where USA hockey was a hit crossbar away from, you know, the biggest upset in USA hockey history since the miracle on ice. Like you look at that 2010 team that my dad and the staff and John Tortorella put together, and the talent level is not nearly where it should have been to be a gold medal contender. And they almost got there.

My understanding is USA hockey said to him, we'd like you to be the permanent Olympic GM. and he said, no, that's not fair to the other guys. There are too many other young GMs who need a shot at this. It should be a little bit competitive. It should be something where other guys get this on their resume. So he declined it, said, you know, I'm happy to do it again. I would love to do it again. His thing with USA hockey, he tells them all the time,

I'll fold towels if I need to. I'll carry bags to the bus. I will, you know, set up the pucks on the bench. If you want me involved in USA hockey, I'll do whatever I need to. But he didn't want to install himself above the other guys. And so because of that decision, you know, you look at the list of guys who got to be Olympic hockey GMs. It's a great list. And those are some moments that they'll never forget.

So his selflessness in making sure that wasn't a thing, I think has been really great for USA hockey as a whole. Mentorship and leaving the game better and leaving spot. Like even just that the 2010 story, I don't want to hug the spot. How many different, I mean, listen, how many managers would have said like, yeah, I'll take that. That's a plum gig. It's a gig for life. Yeah, I'm taking that one. I got up, I got up, like your dad's never been one of those.

I got to the top of the roof and I'm going to kick the ladder down now. Like he's never been that guy. It's leave the ladder there and help people up. His development, like his managerial tree is really impressive. There are some guys who are GMs for a long time and their assistant GMs never become GMs or go on to other things. And that's fine. That's certainly one way of doing things. A lot of guys have had a lot of success doing that.

Big Berkey of George McPhee, Dave Knowness, Chuck Fletcher, Steve Stee. Deos, Brad Tree Living, Craig Conroy, Patrick Alveen, Paul Holmgren. I'm almost positive I'm missing one or two who worked under him or with him at various points in his career and that he helped get to the next level. Brad Pascal and Calgary is on track to become a future GM as well. Like there's going to be a long list of executives, or there already is, frankly, a long list of executives who either got their start under him, learned from him, absorbed knowledge from him. He helped, you know, get their profile up, got them into interviews, got their name out there, which is important in terms of getting a job. So there's any number of current and potentially

future NHL general managers who are under his kind of tree. He would make sure I correct myself and say it's the Pat Quinn tree, that he's under Pat Quinn and this all flows through Pat. It is something to be said for developing the guys under you and turning them into executives in their own right. One of the things that I've always told people, use hockey for something. Don't let hockey use you. Use hockey for something. And whether it's his work with military, you can play,

as I mentioned before, like supporting women's hockey to the place where it's at now, where there's, you know, Larry Tannenbaum's invad, and the Illichers are investing $100 million into the PWHL. That was a nice headline yesterday. That's something outside of the game that, you know, your dad used as a vehicle to make, like honestly, to make the world. the better place, bluntly.

No, I remember being young and when he took over in Vancouver, him telling us that we were all going to go visit Canuck Place and, you know, being whatever I was 14, 15 and not understanding what it meant. And he said the relationship between the Canucks and Connuck Place, which is a hospice for families where children are terminally ill and the families can go to kind of minimize their suffering as the child's life plays out. My dad rebuilt the relationship between the Canucks and Canuck Place personally. He would, they still tell stories there about him coming down from fishing trips at Langarra Lodge and dropping off all the salmon he caught.

So the family's got to eat fresh caught salmon that night. Like that level of personal care for those families meant a ton. His work with women's hockey, the PWHL probably would not exist without his influence with the work that he did with the CWHL and the NWHL before that. and his help with Stancast and getting all this off the ground, then working as the head of their players union. And then, of course, you can play in his work with the LGBTQ community. He didn't have to support my brother so publicly when Brendan came out. He could have said, hey, this is a, you know, I'm the GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

I don't want to be answering questions about this every week. You're out to your team. You're out privately. Let's keep it at that. And he didn't. He said, Brendan, if you want to go do this, I've got your back. And he's been front and center on this fight ever since then, going on 16 years now.

Marched in Pride every year, showed up at different events, speaking at functions, donating time, energy, and money to different causes. It's really, really impressive the way that he has used hockey as a vehicle to change the world and improve people's lives. I've heard from a number of people yesterday and today saying exactly that, that my dad carried their love of hockey through some tough times, or he flat out concretely saved their life in a meaningful way, or influence their ability, you know,

they're a child at Canuck Place or just really using hockey as a, as you said, as a vehicle to impact the world in a positive way is something that has always mattered to him. You know, interesting about your father, too, is, you know, everybody has their demo, right? Like, everybody has, like, the group that, you know, supports them, was with them and sort of, you know, grows up and exits along with them.

Like, I think about your dad's demo. It's not like one demographic, right? It's more like a family reunion. Like, there are so many. people from so many different walks of life. Like I referenced this off the top and you're saying the same thing here too. Like so many different areas that your father touched over the years to do you have first of all I don't know what the time limit is for speeches at the Hall of Fame.

But like this one's Moby Dick, right? Like this one's this one just thinking about this last night before I went to bed. I'm like oh man this first of all like there have been some great speeches that we've seen. Your father's is poised to be one of the best just because. of the number of different things that he can talk about. Have you thought about his speech at all? Yeah, I woke up in a cold sweat

in the middle of the night last night thinking about it. Just hoping that he doesn't decide to settle any old scores from the Hall of Fame stage or something. No, look, he's had a number of great influences on his career. He would want me to say

specifically that my sisters and my brother were the biggest influences that he had. He's had some great women in his life. My mother, my stepmother, his current partner, who have helped him in any number of different ways over the year to do all of this and accomplish all of this. Gary Bettman, Bill Daly, Lou Lamarillo, Pat Quinn. I think the nice thing about my dad is he's never been shy about thanking people while it's happening. He's big handwritten thank you note guy, which a lot of people probably wouldn't expect from

him, but a lot of people have gotten handwritten notes over the years from him saying, hey, I really appreciate the way you did this or thank you for taking the time to do this. So maybe we can cut some of the fat from a what could be a three hour long acceptance speech because he's done part of it before. We can just focus on some of the highlights and some of the fun stories that have happened to him and because of him over the years because I think that's what people really love to hear, some of his big moves, big trades. And again, the impact that he had off the ice.

Like he's in the Hall of Fame because of his community work in large part. Like the gold medal or the silver medal, the Stanley Cup, Calder Cup trophy as a player, those are all amazing. His influence as a league executive, all amazing. It's the impact that he's made on hockey as a whole. What fans feel safe coming into our building? What little girls want to lace up their skates because there's a professional league that they can play in? That's why he's going into the hall.

That's why he's a builder because he's built the game. into areas where it previously wasn't making as much of an effort as it is now. Excellent words. I look forward to having Brian on tomorrow, and I look forward to that speech, and I can't wait to congratulate him personally. I can't talk about... Can I just say my big hope is that Kevin Lowe introduces him, and we finally get to see a barn fight.

I just, Kevin, if you're watching, you know, I don't know who picks, who gets to do the nomination speech. love to have you. You and my dad can just go out at once and for all. We can put this whole thing to bed. You have no idea how much of a great historical moment that would be. That would get replayed over and, and that's just on my show. There's like on a loop over and over again, Kevin Lowe. And to be clear, Kevin, one of the classiest, nicest people in hockey, even when he and my dad were doing that nonsense. When I saw Kevin around the ranks, he was always kind to me and patient with me. There was no like, hey, your dad's being weird. so I've got a problem with you.

So love Kevin, just to be clear. 100%. You know, listen, one of my favorite stories of your dad. Maybe you can tell it from your side. You referenced in Vancouver and you were like 14 or 15 years old. I'm not sure if I've asked you about this on the air. Maybe I have the story about your dad leaving the ice when you went when Gretzky were playing. Do you remember that one?

Yeah. That was the first go-round. That was when he was the assistant GM. So I was like four or five. Oh, you were even younger than that. Okay. Yeah, yeah. So that was the first go-round, like 14-15 playing with Gretz would be pretty cool,

but also there's a little bit. I think Gretz would have been like get the teenager off the ice I need to practice. I was a very adorable four or five years. Oh, of course, yes. So, yeah, that made all the difference. But no, yeah, Bob McCammon told my dad to get me out there, get me ready, and he'd have Gretz come out a little bit early, and we could all kind of pass the puck around.

And as my dad's told, he stayed out there for a minute or two, and then just got off and went and sat on the bench and watched his son skate around with the greatest hockey player of all time. And I think he was hoping some of the skill would rub off and it did not in any way, shape, or form. But yeah, really one of those great moments that you get when your dad works in hockey. But the kicker of the whole thing is, like, your dad was like, I don't belong on the same ice as Wayne Gretzky.

I'm leaving. Like, honestly, like, Patrick, that is the most Brian Burke story of all time. Like your dad is like, this is the code for this and this is how you behave here. And like, you know, this is the frame around this painting. Like this is how we behave in these situations. And in his mind, he didn't belong on the same sheet of ice as Wayne Greshki. So he got off. Yeah, I agree.

I saw him. Like it was the right choice. The Gretz didn't need to be like mishandling passes from a five-year-old and a 40-year-old. Right. It was bad enough that I was feeding him bad passes. he didn't need it from both then. I swear. But this is.

My dad's a student of the game. He's a historian at heart. That's why he wrote the book. And that's why this means so much to him. The Hall of Fame is meaningful to him because he loves the history. He loves the people who came before us. He loves knowing the stories of the old GMs, the old players, having an appreciation for the people who built the game.

And now history is going to recognize him as one of them. And that really means a lot to him. Okay. So Dad's going to the Hall. I want you to stump for a couple of your colleagues. the DOPS. Ryan Gatslough and Ray Whitney have pretty much identical stats.

If one's going in, do both have to go in? Two great player safety employees, great friends, great people, great hockey players. I would love to see either or both of them in the Hall of Fame one day. Really tremendous long careers, both won the Cup, put up a lot of points and great off-ice leadership. There's a reason they kept bringing Wizz in to different teams to help square away.

the locker room and help get different teams over the top and work with young guys. And there's a reason the Ducks built their franchise around Getsy for as long as they did as an icon and a stalwart there. So both great guys, both great players. They're on ice track records speak for themselves. And hopefully the halls call on them one day. A final thought about the Department of Player Safety. What's considered a successful year?

And was this a successful year for the DOPS? Yeah. I think at the end of the year, we reflect on the suspensions that we gave out, the suspensions that we didn't. You know, George sits down with the GMs, with coaches, with Board of Governors, our various stakeholders and gets feedback from them. But overall, we're really proud of the job that we did this year. Suspensions are slowly trickling down in a way that we think is a good thing. We believe that our education of players is really taking hold, that we've started getting to, to players at a younger age and leagues at a, you know, younger leagues.

So players as they're coming up are learning how to hit and play the right way. You know, I've been at player safety now for 13 years, and it predates me for a couple years. But when player safety was founded and started influencing hockey as a whole, a lot of these players coming into our draft this week were three, four years old. They've always grown up in the Department of Players Safety. They've always grown up with Rule 48. They've always grown up understanding the important.

of identifying and managing concussions. And I think our league is seeing the payoff of, you know, almost 20 years of investment in educating players, changing hearts and minds and getting guys on board with what we're trying to do. What do you think when you hear your dad talk about the early days? It wasn't called the Department of Player's Safety then. But your dad would, and one of my favorite stories your dad always tells is, you know, there were like eight VCRs they had and the VHS tapes wouldn't, wouldn't fit an entire game.

So no suspensions happen in the first. first period. So they just started charting games and tracking games and recording games, starting in the second period, which just boggles your mind thinking about it now. But then again, you think about where the NHL was and where the NHL is. When you hear the old stories of what is now the DOPS when your dad ran it, what goes through your mind? We'll end there. It's like when your dad talks about how he used to go to drive-ins and listen to eight-track players. And like that, you know, it's very back in my day. Because he'll come in. He's come in a few times and spent the night in the room with myself or Damien Etchevaryetta.

You know, we have a person assigned to each game in New York and a person assigned to each game in Toronto. So there's two sets of eyes fully monitoring and logging each game from start to finish for different things, obviously. But he's talking about how the VCRs didn't work and he had to pick which games based on the players. And we've got eyes on everything. Anytime hockey's being played, we have someone watching it, monitoring it, reviewing it.

We don't miss things. We don't get caught. by things, like, it's just a completely different ballgame. So it is. It's like listening to someone talk about single runner skates and wooden sticks. And it's like, okay, that's great. Like, time to get you back to the home. That's, yeah, the VCRs didn't record everything.

And you're like, okay, grandpa, come on. Let's go. The thing is I can relate to about the VCR as well. These folks, Pat, putting me on my spot, too. Congratulations to your father and to the entire Burke family. This is a great experience. I think I speak on behalf of certainly everybody here. everyone's really happy and everyone's really proud and thrilled that Big Berkey's going in

and your whole family gets to be a part of it. And we look forward to the speech and maybe selling a score. And I love your Kevin Lowe idea. That'll be the clip. Perfect. Of course that's going to be the clip. Well, thank you. Yeah, very proud of Big Berkey.

Grateful for all his friends who have reached out the number of people who have helped their family over the years and looking forward to November. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks, Patrick. Be good. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.