NHL: Now We Know Why the Nickname for Richard is Dick

Current (and hopefully VERY soon to be ex) Phoenix Coyotes owner Richard Burke has banned Wayne Gretzky, The Great One, from the team locker room until Gretzky and Steve Ellman complete their purchase of the team, which is now scheduled to take place on October 1, 2000, only four days before the opening of the 2000-2001 season.

Never mind that the sale is only one payment away from being resolved. Never mind that Wayne Gretzky is possibly the greatest hockey player to ever lace on skates. Never mind any of that. This last "hurrah" by Richard Burke only verifies to the entire hockey world what Phoenix fans have known from the beginning. Dick Burke is exactly what his name says. And while we the fans of the Phoenix Coyotes may be thankful to Mr. Burke for bringing NHL hockey to the valley of the sun, there are many things he cannot be forgiven for.

As some of you may have seen, much whining and complaining by this same Richard Burke accompanied an Associated Press article appearing in print and on line this week, as well as being reported by sports newscasters on network and local news, informing us that Mr. Burke had indeed banned the Great One from the Coyotes locker room and from team practices at the Alltell Ice Den.

If it wasn't bad enough for us to be continually embarrassed locally with Mr. Burke and his "interesting" statements to the press, now the entire nation, and Canada, can share in our amazement over statements like "They are trying to pull stuff on me," apparently referring to Gretzky and Company preparing to take over the team. Running commercials with the Great One to encourage season ticket sales, and preliminary talks with Nikolai Khabibulin (stalled for months under the Burke regime) and Claude Lemieux are obviously, in Richard Burke's eyes, "showboating and being disruptive."

Disruptive? DISRUPTIVE? That will be Mr. Burke's legacy in Phoenix. Accusing Wayne Gretzky of showboating and being disruptive. Sorry, Mr. Burke, Wayne could attract attention walking into a morgue, he would hardly be disruptive and showboat just to upstage you.

And speaking of disruptive, Richard Burke has in the last six months tried to sell the team on the sly to a Microsoft fat cat in Portland, tried to trade Keith Tkachuk on eight different occasions while lying to the press and the fans about it, been so rude and uncooperative and childish in his dealings with Khabibulin that Nik and his agent will not even speak to him, and he has the cajones to call the Great One disruptive?

I must commend Wayne Gretzky for his poise and class in dealing with the childish petulant cur that he is purchasing my Coyotes from. In response to Mr. Burke, Wayne said, "We are not trying to cause any controversy. All we are saying is, 'Listen, the reason we're not around the team is because some people don't want us around the team.' " And putting a smile on my face, Gretzky also said, "Cliff Fletcher and I are going to continue to talk to Nik, and if we get reprimanded, so be it. It's important Nik is on this team, and we're going to have Nik on this team. Nik is more important to the team and this city than Richard Burke and/or Bobby Smith."

Well said, Mr. Gretzky. And I have a plan of my own. Richard Burke has left Phoenix for his home in Minnesota. I say, tie a bag of pucks around his waist and toss him into Lake Minnehaha. Oh, and I'll be the one at the first game after the Great One takes over with the big sign that says THANK YOU WAYNE FOR FIRING BOBBY SMITH.

Reaction to the "Banning of Gretzky" was swift, and it was eloquent. David Schuttenberg, a message board poster at the Coyotes Den (www.coyotefans.com), a website run by Bob Chebat, wrote, in part:

"Let me open by saying a heartfelt thank you for bringing hockey to the desert (addressed to Richard Burke), and for that I am grateful. Now, let me continue by saying, get out of here, now…. Your pettiness, your ego, and darn near sadistical nature are no longer necessary, and are serving no purpose other than to bury this team, as you grab your cash and head off into the sunset."

And that time can come none too soon. Goodbye, Richard Burke, and good riddance.

A New Regime

After a summer of spinning its wheels in Arizona desert sand, there is finally some moment around the Phoenix Coyotes. Cliff Fletcher has been hired to work alongside Wayne Gretzky, future director of hockey operations, hopefully sending a message (in neon lights, blinking) to Bobby Smith that his days of incompetent general management of this team are coming to an end.

Gretzky has also announced that Bob Francis will remain for the second year of his three year coaching contract. Considering the fact that Bob Francis led the Coyotes into the playoffs without the services of Nikolai Khabibulin in goal, and with Keith Tkachuk injured for most of the season, this announcement seemed logical. It has been whispered in some circles, however, that if Ellman and Gretzky had taken over the team as scheduled in July, or even as late as August, Bob Francis' coaching career in Phoenix would have been over.

In what will hopefully be their final act of mismanagement for this team, Owner Richard Burke and GM Bobby Smith offered Nikolai Khabibulin the same three year contract he rejected at the beginning of last season. Nik did, of course, reject it again, and Richard Burke turned around and signed goaltender Sean Burke (no relation) to a one year $1.3 M+ deal, even with incoming Gretzky and Company negotiating with Nikolai.

And despite the bitching and whining in the press these last few days by Richard Burke about Gretzky daring to speak to players on behalf of the Coyotes when he, Richard Burke, still owns the team, Burke's flunky, GM Bobby Smith, was quoted in the valley Tribune and in the Sporting News as saying that there was no need to wait for Gretzky and Ellman to close on the deal to buy to Coyotes to offer a contract to Khabibulin, or even Claude Lemieux, in direct contrast to things Richard Burke has said in the past two days to anyone who would listen.

And people outside of Phoenix wonder what is going on here? Let me tell you, people inside of Phoenix wonder too.