I can now state with complete and total honesty that I love Brian Burke. Not in the way I loved Cliff Ronning, but in a professional, businesslike way.

In the past two weeks, Brian Burke has given me hope that I may one day manage a big league hockey club. For half a season I have been writing about how great the Canucks would be after Mike Keenan got his hands on a team that included those acquired in a Pavel Bure deal.

That legacy lasted two games.

Well, I guess I might not be the most insightful hockey writer around (it's tough at a top notch media outlet as LCS Hockey), but I now feel 100 percent competent at running an NHL team. If Burke can do it, so can I, and you can too!

We'll discuss the circumstances regarding Brian Burke's eight-day brain cramp, but first, the cold, hard facts:

Pavel Bure by Meredith Martini

On January 17th, the Vancouver Canucks finally struck a deal for Pavel Bure with the Florida Panthers. The Canucks also gave up Bret Hedican, Brad Ference and a third-round pick for Ed Jovanovski, Dave Gagner, Kevin Weekes, Mike Brown and a first-round selection in either 1999 or 2000.

On January 24th, the Vancouver Canucks fired coach Mike Keenan after only 436 days with the organization, during which time he made 10 trades involving 17 players and seven draft picks, and lost too many games behind the bench. Brian Burke subsequently announced the hiring of former Avalanche boss Marc Crawford.

And now my opinion, most of which is not even factually based:

The Pavel Bure trade will not be able to be analyzed completely for many years to come, but the short-term outlook is not impressive.

First glimpse at the trade reveals that the Canucks gave a top-notch scorer in his prime and received only Dave Gagner to chip in offensively. Ed Jovanovski, I believe, will still one day be a top-notch NHL defenceman, and Weekes, Brown and the pick could one day play for the team, but Dave Gagner, are you kidding me? Now Davey may be a fabulous person, he may even set up a few goals this year, but the man is 34 years old. This leaves the Canucks with a combined 105 years of age between their top three pivots (Messier, Gagner, Zezel). The point that makes me doubt Burke's sanity is that he said he demanded Gagner be included in the deal. Demanded. I'll bet the discussion he had with Bryan Murray went something like this:

"Bryan, I'm demanding that Dave Gagner be included in this deal."

"But Burkie, he's 34 years old, I could count his goals on one hand, he's been in the press-box for most of the last two weeks and we're paying him over $3 million a year! Do you really expect me to give him up?"

"If this deal is going to happen, he's got to be in there!"

"Fine Burkie, you twisted my arm."

Just a few days after the Bure trade, Craig Janney was traded by the Lightning to the Islanders for a sixth-round draft pick. Similar size, similar style, similar age. I'm sure that Tampa was desperately seeking a sixth-round pick, and to their dismay, Mike Milbury demanded Craig Janney in return.

I just can't get past the fact that the Canucks were not able to secure a young forward in this deal. Florida has a wealth of young talent up front. Alphabetically, the list goes: Dvorak, Kozlov, Kvasha, Niedermayer, Parrish. Any one of these players could not only have helped this year, but for many years to come. Common sense tells me that Dave Gagner will be in a wheelchair by the time the Canucks make a run at the Stanley Cup. He may even be dead.

While the Bure trade works itself out over the next few years, we can talk about the super job that Brian Burke did with Mike Keenan. I don't mean super in the great, outstanding sense, but rather in the un-professional, mind-blowingly inane way that Orca Bay (the Canucks parent company) conducts all of their business.

First word of the firing came in Saturday's Vancouver Sun, which stated that Keenan had coached his last Canuck game. It also indicated that the Canucks would hire Marc Crawford as his replacement. It is fully possible that the Vancouver Sun has found a psychic line that really works, but the more likely scenario is that there was a corporate leak!

Upon the publication of this story, Burke was in Tampa Bay for the All-Star Game. Instead of admitting that he had been found out, he "no comment"ed his way onto a plane and flew back to Vancouver with...Marc Crawford. Now is that a freaky coincidence or what? In the process, Burke left Keenan blowing in the wind for 24 hours, unaware of his status. I'll be the first to admit that Keenan is no saint when it comes to player relations, but Burke's actions made not only himself, but also the organization look bad.

The hope in bringing Brian Burke back was that he could restore some respect and stability to the club. He has done neither. His handling of the Bure trade made many question his skills as a trader, and the Keenan saga has made those same people wonder if he has the leadership skills to keep a team out of embarrassing waters.

It will take a while to make a concrete decision on his competency, but in the meantime, I'll be polishing up my resume, because Brian Burke's story has made me dare to dream again!

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