It’s been over a year since Brian Burke was fired as general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, but the time away from Toronto has not changed his fiery personality one bit.
Burke, now president of the Calgary Flames, was part of a roundtable discussion at charity event earlier this week, which also included current Leafs GM Dave Nonis and captain Dion Phaneuf. During the discussion, Nonis continually ranted about the Toronto media and its criticism over the Leafs when he was part of the organization.
Burke said a majority of the media in Toronto was fair, but some of it was slanted to the point where he wishes he could have taken some action, according to the Toronto Sun.
“Well, it’s a shame that we’re not allowed to kick the (expletive) out of them,” Burke said during the discussion.
Burke is now far away from the Toronto spotlight in Calgary, but Nonis even chimed in on the topic, and said he tries not to pay attention to his critics. The reason for the harsh media in Toronto, Burke believes, is because of the nature of Canada and the game of hockey.
“Do I feel that some stuff was handled in a horse-(expletive) way? Yep,” Burke said.” But you’re in Canada, people care about hockey here. The price you pay for working in Canada is you’re going to get some horse-(expletive) stuff.”
In the end, Burke said he enjoyed his time with the Leafs, and would not mind working in Toronto again.
“I would take the job in Toronto again,” Burke said. “I had no regrets about working here. I loved it.”
Photo via Twitter/@WTPuckingPuck
