Sleeksays

Hey, everybody! Welcome to Burke Week, where I'll take a scattered look back on what I take to be Brian Burke's legacy in Anaheim. I do have a lot to say about the guy, and rather than cram it all into one post I thought I'd break it into semi-coherent parts throughout the week. Part I: Defending three "bad" Burke moves that I don't think were that bad. For better or worse, opposing fans love to criticize Brian Burke's management style, and at times, the desire to call out Burke for a "bad" move ignores a lot of important context. Burke's first few years, of course, are now left alone because the Ducks won a cup, but since then it seems that critics are all-too-ready to point out where Burke has made his supposed mistakes. There's really two things to keep in mind when discussing some of these debatable moves, though: (1) Thanks to salary cap mechanics, it's always going to be difficult, if not impossible, to keep a championship team...

In case you didn't hear the news already, the Dallas Stars traded oft-injured defenseman Phillippe Boucher for plays-like-he's-injured Daryl Sydor . For the Penguins, they get a player who either is damaged goods or a short term boost to their power play. If nothing else, Boucher might be a helpful stop gap while Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney rehab their extensive injuries. It's harder to see the benefit for the Stars. Sydor was a healthy scratch much of his time with the Penguins and he's making the same money ($2.5 million) as Boucher so it's not getting any cash off the books. Clearly, this is Brett Hull 's version of Kevin Smith bringing back his buddies when they normally would just drift through the streets of New Jersey. Realistically speaking, it's a brush with nostalgia. Then again, maybe it was more of a statement to the old and mid guard in Dallas: get your shit together or you'll get traded. Brad Richards and Brendan Morrow looked borde...