Ex-Vancouver Canucks GM Brian Burke shouts out Sedins in Hall of Fame speech
Brian Burke may be one of the most important figures in Vancouver Canucks history.
The former GM was the mastermind behind drafting both Henrik and Daniel Sedin at the 1999 NHL Draft. Burke pulled off a series of trades that involved him acquiring the fourth-overall pick from the Chicago Blackhawks, which was flipped for the first-overall pick from the Tampa Bay Lightning, before then flipping that pick once again to grab the second-overall pick from the Atlanta Thrashers.
With assurance that Atlanta wouldn’t draft a Sedin, and the Canucks already owning the third-overall pick, this allowed Burke to draft the brothers with back-to-back selections.
It was a franchise-altering move, as the Sedins would go on to be two of the greatest players to ever play in Vancouver. It was also a career-defining moment for Burke, who was finally inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame this year.
Ex-Canucks GM Brian Burke drafted both Sedin brothers during the 1999 NHL draft (@Canucks/X)
The 71-year-old NHL executive was welcomed on stage by Henrik SedinĀ during Monday’s Hall of Fame induction, where Burke gave a speech shouting out the brothers.
“At the 1999 draft, you might have heard about these two kids. We pulled off a couple of trades to land two red-headed Swedish kids named Daniel and Henrik Sedin,” Burke said. “I told them on day one the rookies were meant to be seen and not heard, and they didn’t say a goddamn word to me for four years.
“But what players, what players they were.”
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Burke initially joined the Canucks organization in 1989 as the team’s director of hockey operations. He worked in that role until the 1992-93 season, when he became the GM of the Hartford Whalers. Burke spent just a single year in Hartford before taking a job with the NHL front office as the league’s executive vice president and director of hockey operations.
He had a six-year stint with the league before eventually returning to Vancouver to become the GM of the Canucks in 1998, where he drafted the Sedins soon after.
“Pat Quinn took a flyer on a young lawyer and made me his assistant GM in Vancouver,” Burke said. “That was a mountain of a man with a heart and a brain to match. He taught me how to win on a team with integrity, backbone, and yes, a little bit of functional hostility.
“What a city Vancouver is. I loved it all. We drafted Trevor Linden and Pavel Bure, revived a franchise and made the playoffs.”
Burke would go on to become GM of the Anaheim Ducks in 2005, winning his one and only Stanley Cup with the team in 2007. From there, he had stints with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Calgary Flames, and Pittsburgh Penguins. Burke currently works as a special advisor to the OHL’s Brantford Bulldogs.
Brian Burke won his one and only Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks in 2007 (@AnaheimDucks/X)
He may not have had the on-ice playing career that fellow inductees Patrice Bergeron, Carey Price, Pekka Rinne, Keith Tkachuk, and Cindy Curley had, but his impact on the sport is still felt today, especially in Vancouver.