Brian Burke

Brian P. Burke (born June 30, 1955) is an American-Canadian ice hockey executive, currently the Executive Director of the Professional Women's Hockey League Players Association (PWHLPA).

Burke graduated from Edina High School followed by Providence College in 1977 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history.

While attending Providence, he played for the Friars Division-I ice hockey team, where, during his senior year, he served as captain under coach Lou Lamoriello.

He was also a teammate of Ron Wilson's there.

In 1977, Burke played seven games with the Springfield Indians of the American Hockey League (AHL).

He then signed with the Philadelphia Flyers in the off-season and proceeded to play one full year in the AHL with the Maine Mariners, winning a Calder Cup championship that year.

After one year in the AHL, Burke attended Harvard Law School, where he graduated with a Juris Doctor in 1981.

After graduating, Burke became an NHL player agent.

In 1987, he was hired by Pat Quinn to be the director of hockey operations for the Vancouver Canucks.

In the 1992–93 season, he left that job to become general manager of the Hartford Whalers.

Burke stepped down after one year in Hartford, so he could join the NHL front office as executive vice president and director of hockey operations, under league commissioner Gary Bettman.

In that role, he served as the league's chief disciplinarian.

In 1998, he became general manager of the Vancouver Canucks.

With the Canucks, he was credited with reviving the ailing franchise and increasing attendance, with the drafting and signing of several key players such as Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin and Ryan Kesler, as the team won a playoff series and captured a division title.

Following the 2003–04 NHL season, Canucks ownership chose not to renew Burke's contract for the GM position.

Burke then briefly worked as an analyst for NHL games on both CBC and TSN.

Burke's total record with the Canucks was 219-181-68-24.

Brian Burke faced public criticism for his treatment of forward Peter Zezel.

Zezel had requested that he be traded to an East Coast team in order to be closer to Toronto so that he could see his 5-year old niece who had terminal cancer.

Instead, Burke sent Zezel to the Anaheim Ducks, the NHL city furthest away from Toronto.

As a result, Zezel retired from the NHL.

Only after public and media outcry did Burke decide to buyout Zezel's contract.

As the 2004-05 NHL Lockout was coming to a close, Burke was announced as the next GM of the Anaheim Ducks.

In his first year with the club, the Ducks made it all the way to the third round before falling to the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference Final.

The following year, Burke won the Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks in the 2006–07 NHL season.

He previously worked in the NHL league office, including as the director of hockey operations, and worked as general manager of the Hartford Whalers, Vancouver Canucks, Anaheim Ducks—with whom he won the Stanley Cup in 2007—and Toronto Maple Leafs, as well as president of hockey operations for the Leafs, Calgary Flames, and Pittsburgh Penguins.

Burke stepped down as GM of the Anaheim Ducks on November 12, 2008.

The Ducks management submitted papers to the NHL, releasing him from contractual commitment.

On November 29, 2008, Burke was introduced as the president and general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, replacing interim general manager Cliff Fletcher.

Soon thereafter, on December 4, 2008, Burke offered Dave Nonis the position of senior vice president and director of hockey operations for the Maple Leafs; Nonis accepted, marking the third time he has held this post under Burke; he had done so previously in Anaheim and Vancouver.

Burke was general manager for the silver-medalist United States national team for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

He is a member of Rugby Canada's board of directors.

Burke attended the World Hockey Summit hosted in Toronto in 2010, and wanted NHL participation in the Winter Olympics to continue, but felt that teams should receive financial compensation while the NHL season was on hiatus during the Olympics.

He proposed allowing the NHL oversee a world championship which had potential to a financially lucrative venture while league games were not being played.

He became the 13th non-interim general manager of the club and the first to be American-born.

He reportedly agreed to a six-year deal worth $3 million annually.

On January 9, 2013, Burke was fired by the Leafs as president and general manager and given a role as senior advisor to MLSE's president and C.O.O. Tom Anselmi and the MLSE board of directors.

The advisory role would not relate to hockey matters.

Burke was inducted into the Rhode Island Hockey Hall of Fame in 2019.

Born in Providence, Rhode Island, and raised in Edina, Minnesota, in a family of ten children.