I Read Brian Burke’s ‘Burke’s Law: a Life In Hockey.’

One thing that’s great about the timing of this read is that it took place in the NHL offseason. All of the big free agency deals got done on the first of the month, Bedard was drafted and most of the major pieces were moved, so we are truly in the deadest of days in the NHL. Nothing is happening. Even the podcasts have dried up. Having this book as the bridge between one of the biggest drafts of all time and then the start of a brand new season has been absolutely perfect. It didn’t quite get me to October, but at least it helped me get a little hockey oasis in the meantime.

Burke’s gruff and blue-collar demeanor comes through in every page of this book. I love when he describes interactions with other NHL execs and depicts them as I can only imagine are 100% true. Burke will be accused of something, his response will be “Fuck you.” He will be asked to change his team in a way that doesn’t meet his vision, his response is, “Fuck you.” He looks back on a group of people that doubted him or didn’t see eye to eye with him, he reflects, “Fuck them.” You really get a sense of what a person he was, not only through these reductive and rudimentary responses, but also through the way he sees the positive as well, really taking little gems within conversations, negotiations and passing interactions with him as things that shined a bright light on some people’s reputations. One can read this book and know that anyone who had to engage in a business conversation with Brian Burke had to take a shot or two before jumping on a call with him. There definitely had to be one or two front office people in the league who let out a huge sigh before placing a call to him and an even bigger one after getting off the phone. There’s something so cut-throat and hostile about the way he seemed to approach his duties as GM and President. As always, one of my favorite type of players to have on my teams is the type of guy you hate to play against, but would do anything to get on your team: this is Brian Burke through and through.

In a lot of ways, we get a surface view on a lot of big swathes of his tenure in the league. I would love to read a whole book running down his time in Vancouver once he got the Sedins, in Anaheim where he won a cup then crashed and burned. I would also love to hear about the ins and outs of the grind it must be to work in Toronto. Leafs Nation has to be the place that I hear so much about as they continue their grind towards getting out of the first round (finally this year… only to be met with disappointment once again) and to continue on towards a cup. The media sounds brutal up there, the fans absolutely entitled and the players beaten down night after night by reporters who can’t wait to get their talons in there. I would love to hear the way that Burke combated with them over five years, especially as he was unsuccessful for such a stretch. It must have been a war for the ages.

I liked hearing a lot about the different people he interacted with, and really it reminded me of what it is to work with people over the course of a long time and the way that you build these working relationships that seem to last longer and can withstand more trials and tribulations than people you’ve met in your personal life. Standing shoulder to shoulder with people and going through some of the worst days any of you will ever grind through has a lasting effect on the bonds that you build with those people. As Burke continues to bring up many of the same people he has on his side from club to club, I can totally relate to the way that he continues to go to the same people for council, to add to his team and to bring up just how great of a person they were.

I do recommend this book, but specifically for those who already have an interest in the man himself, in Burke’s teams or in some of the way that the league operates. We don’t read about a large window of time, but some of the insights he provides about draft day, free agency, contract negotiations, the family side of hockey, etc. are really interesting. I am a guy who watches at least a game a night during the regular season and multiple games during the playoffs, and keep tabs on all kinds of social media and podcasts, so this book felt like information that I really wanted more of. I will say though that it might be a little “inside baseball” for a casual fan who just likes the game or is interested in jumping in a hockey biography.