Heatley, Pronger not the same: Burke

http://www.nationalpost.com/sports/story.html?id=1715059

Toronto Maple
Leafs general manager Brian Burke says his public critique of Ottawa
Senators winger Dany Heatley's trade demand can be reconciled with his
past trade for defenceman Chris Pronger.Burke, who as Anaheim's
general manager acquired a disgruntled Pronger from the Edmonton Oilers
in 2006, said the difference in the two cases is that Heatley's camp
publicized the player's demand."Our understanding is the trade
demand was made quietly and professionally and was leaked by the
Edmonton front office," said Burke in an exclusive interview with the
National Post on Friday.The Maple Leafs GM also said that he and
and his lieutenants with the Ducks did due diligence and would not have
traded for Pronger if they had found otherwise.An Oilers spokesman said former Edmonton GM Kevin Lowe, who is now the team president, could not be reached for comment.Burke
and Lowe have had an on-again, off-again public feud for a few years,
most notably over Lowe signing restricted free agent Dustin Penner away
from the Ducks in August 2007.
________________________________

this is Burke responding to criticism over his comment about him being a hypocrite cause he had traded for Pronger awhile back. Although it pains me to say this i have to agree with him, pronger nor his agent leaked the trade request and the reason he wanted to get traded in the first place was because of family not because he was getting whiney about not wanting to work harder under a new coach.

I kind of hope Kevin Lowe comes out and says that it was Pronger's camp that leaked this info. He could really handycuff Burke right now.

But I don't see what the Oilers' organization would have gained from leaking that information.

There are more similarities than differences, though. Bottom line, he just signed a long-term contract, went to the SCF, and then quit on the team. It was never confirmed that it was for family reasons, but the rest is plain fact. And Burke said he would never trade for a player who put his own wants above the team.

Does anyone have proof that Dany Heatley and his people leaked this trade demand?

PKC wrote:Does anyone have proof that Dany Heatley and his people leaked this trade demand?

About as much proof as there is that Pronger's didn't. Murray said he heard it from the agent, asked to see it in writing, next thing it's out in the open. Nothing to indicate where it came from. Could easily have been Murray or someone in the Sens org.

Hmmm. Chris Pronger, Mr. Intergrity. The man who got himself into hot water with his wife, who he subsequently put the onus on for his trade demand while essentially telling the City of Champions that their home is a sucky place to live...

Burke is a dip$hit.

Why the heck would Heatley's camp have leaked it though? Makes his look like a diddling Donkey hole.

BS. The only difference is that Burke had a shot at Pronger but has no shot at Heatley.

Here's the TSN article from the Pronger trade:
http://www.tsn.ca/story/?id=169528&hubname=main

When asked if Pronger had asked to be traded, Lowe responded: "He hasn't' asked me. I'll just leave it at that."

"We just got over a seven-game series in the Stanley Cup finals and there seems to be a lot of discussion about this and I'm not sure where it's coming from," added Lowe. "Let's put it this way. Why would we want to trade Chris Pronger?"

"One thing I've learned in my five or six years as a manager is that stuff tends to out of right field for whatever reasons. It can be agendas, hidden agendas, certain motivations, so nothing surprises me."

However, agent Pat Morris told TSN a trade request has now been made on behalf of his client.

Leaked by the front office my arse.

SpezDispenser wrote:Why the heck would Heatley's camp have leaked it though? Makes his look like a diddling Donkey hole.

They wanted to force Murray's hand? You're right, it does appear that he would have little to gain from having this leaked; on the other hand, the Sens had more to lose from this.

Personally I dont care who leaked it. Its done and its time to move on. Burke is a hot head with loose lips. He is probably bitter because he knows he has nothing to offer for Heatley....or maybe he is worried that Murray might be able to move ahead of him in the draft and he is trying to minimize Heatleys return to Ottawa.

I can't see why Murray would have leaked. With Ron Hextall's comments today about Heatley's character, it has clearly proven detrimental to the Sens. If any Sens employee leaked this, they are already out of a job.

Burke is an arse, might as well have said...

'Pronger is absolutely not the same as Heatley because... ummm... it umm... happened on a Saturday.'

This makes him even more of a hypocrite.

Part of me really wants Murray to come out with statement about how Kaberle's performance has been on the decline for the past few years, that Jason Blake is terrible in the dressing room, Pogge will never be an nhler and Toskola only had 1 solid year.

That should handcuff Burke even more.

Hayden wrote:Part of me really wants Murray to come out with statement about how Kaberle's performance has been on the decline for the past few years, that Jason Blake is terrible in the dressing room, Pogge will never be an nhler and Toskola only had 1 solid year.

That should handcuff Burke even more.

I wish Murray would too, but my guess is Murray will get back at Burke by getting a great package for Heatley, hopefully this week, it does involve a higher draft pick than the Leafs, and Murray will pick the player that Burke wants, then flip him the bird as they are walking back to the Sens table at the draft.

A few points:

1. If Burke is correct about the Pronger situation, then shouldn't his high sense of morality have forbidden him from working out a deal with Edmonton? Apparently his contention is that the info was leaked to the press, so by that logic, Lowe was the devil, not Pronger, so why deal with Lowe?

2. I still don't think there has been any proof either way who leaked the Heatley news. It doesn't seem like it would be in Heatley's favour to leak the news for the obvious reasons. Conversely, Ottawa does have a previous history of character assassination when they can't keep players (ie Hossa and Chara). It makes sense from Murray's point of view to have the fans on his side before the trade happens.

3. If neither side leaked the news, rival GMs would be pretty suspicious if one day Murray called them up and said "any chance you want to make a trade for Heatley?" It wouldn't make sense, so they would obviously know that something was up (ie. Heatley wants out because why would Murray want to trade him). With that in mind, I don't really see how leaking the news changes the scenario at all. Both GMs involved would know the request was made. The only people who wouldn't know are the press and fans and since they aren't at the bargaining table, how does that matter?