Former Vancouver Canucks GM tells story about how he drafted Trevor Linden
Every so often I'm the hockey world, you hear a story that's thst both fits the character of the person telling it, yet I'd do unbelievable you have to read it twice to make sure you read it correctly. This is one of those stories.
We all know Brian Burke as a notoriously hard nosed executive and general manager who values grit over skill (see most of his drafts with the Toronto Maple Leafs). However, this story on why he drafted Canucks great Trevor Linden is an all-timer.
According to Hockey Beast, this is the first impression he had of Linden, which ultimately is why he drafted him:
To summarize the story, Linden called Burke a day before he was supposed to go in for some tests prior to the draft saying he couldn't make it the next day because it was cattle branding day at his uncles ranch and he needed to be there to help out. Linden went on to explain his job was to hold the calves down while they were brandedamong other things and Burke said he could skip the tests, he was the only player never tested. The rest with Linden and Vancouver is history.
I'm not a big fan of Burke as a general manager of hockey executive in any capacity, but I will say this: he's a fantastic person and an even better judge of character. This story is only one other things that proves that.
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What do you think of Burkie | ||
| I like him | 35 | 34.3 % |
| Don�t like him | 15 | 14.7 % |
| He�s a perfect mix of old school and new school | 26 | 25.5 % |
| The game has passed him by | 26 | 25.5 % |
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