Faceoff Factor

12 Days of Hating: Day 4

Mike Wilson | National Hockey League

Dec 16, 01:14 AM | Hype this story!

On the fourth day of Christmas, Kevin Lowe pours it on…by calling Brian Burke a moron.

The ninth biggest hate of 2008: Kevin Lowe responds to Brian Burke’s comments from a season and a half ago and the two men start letting the criticisms fly.

Brian Burke and Kevin Lowe hate each other

This one goes way back to when (then Anaheim) GM Brian Burke remarked that the offer sheets being handed out by Edmonton GM Kevin Lowe were driving up the salary structure for young restricted free agents. Lowe offered Buffalo forward Thomas Vanek a seven-year, $50 million paycheck. This offer was matched by the Sabres so Vanek didn’t move.

However, the five-year, $21.2 million contract Lowe offered to Anaheim’s Dustin Penner was unable to be matched by Burke, thus starting the uproar. Burke called out Lowe for over a year and the Edmonton GM stayed silent until this past summer during a July 4 interview.

“I mean, if he wants to debate what our offer sheet did to them or to the salaries, any time,” Lowe said in the interview. “I’m sick and tired of it. I know everybody is. I know our peers are like, ‘Well, that’s Burkie.’

“The guy is an absolute media junkie and I guess he’s achieving what he wants because he gets his name in the headlines. But the reality is, I hate the fact that my name is linked to this.

“He won a Stanley Cup? Great. I’ve won six Stanley Cups, you want to count rings? Who cares? It’s just a little pathetic that he carries on.”

It’s interesting that we see he called him a media junkie now that he’s taken the Toronto GM position. Which means he’ll fit in perfect with the Toronto press. Lowe also pointed out that shortly after Burke passed on matching his offer to Penner, he resigned Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry similar five-year deals worth even more money than his offer to Penner.

Burke responded to Lowe’s remarks and backed up his own statements. “You go right now from entry-level to what used to be the third contract, thanks to two offer sheets from Kevin Lowe.”

Lowe responded again by criticizing hockey in Southern California. “He’s a moron, first of all. “Secondly, he really believes that any news for the NHL is good news. Thirdly, he loves the limelight and I don’t think anyone in hockey will dispute that.

“Lastly, he’s in a pathetic hockey market [Anaheim] where they can’t get on any page of the newspaper let alone the front page of the sports, so any of this stuff carries on.”

Now that both GM’s are in hockey’s holy land of Canada, and with the Toronto newspapers at Burke’s disposal, who knows what will happen next.

Tomorrow, the fifth day of Christmas, a native son who moved south may have made the biggest mistake of his life.