Toronto Maple Leafs president and general manager Brian Burke used to have the same responsibilities that Colin Campbell does now, and the former league disciplinarian feels that the current man in the job did nothing wrong in his much-publicized e-mails.
"I felt exactly like Colie felt," Burke told ESPN.com. "There were divers and clowns in our league and I called them that. … If I'd used e-mail, I'd have used the same language. Only I didn't get caught because there was no e-mail trail."
While Burke's honesty is appreciated, it doesn't make what Campbell said right.
Campbell, in a 2007 e-mail, called Marc Savard a "little fake artist" and the "biggest faker going" after he drew a high-sticking call on Campbell's son, Gregory. It was exposed this week and stood out mostly because Campbell ruled last year to not punish Matt Cooke for his blind-side hit on Savard that left the latter concussed.
Burke, a New England native who's been around hockey for five decades, doesn't think anything Campbell said in his e-mails were a big deal.
"I think Colin's done an excellent job," Burke told ESPN.com. "This to me is white noise. It's background noise."
