Former National Hockey League general manager Brian Burke has never been one to shy away from controversy and he is back at it again. Over the weekend Burke stirred the pot once again when he was asked to select players for mid-season awards in the National Hockey League, that is to say that Burke was asked to pick out which players would win awards like the Hart Memorial Trophy or the Calder Trophy should the season end today.
For the most part Burke's picks were pretty standard and I think you would be hard pressed to argue with many of the selections that he made, but when it came time to pick his winner for the Calder Trophy Burke truly surprised with hi selection. Burke acknowledged that his pick was going to be one that would cause quite a bit of controversy even before he announced who he was selecting, but in spite of that he made it clear that his pick for the Calder this season would be defenseman Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks. It is a stunning pick if only due to the fact that many believe Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar has the Calder locked down already at this stage of the season.
"I'm gonna get some heat on this one but I'm going with Quinn Hughes. I think he's doing more, the other candidate would be Cale Makar, but I think he's doing more for his team and taking a bigger load for his team than Cale Makar has to do in Colorado so I'm going with Quinn Hughes.
Burke acknowledged that he would likely be getting a fair bit of angry messages from people in Colorado following this pick, but when he was pressed by his co-host on the issue he stuck to his guns. In spite of the fact that Makar has produced more on the scoresheet this season Burke believes that the level of talent on each respective team has influenced how people perceive each player.
"I'm gonna get some emails from people in Colorado but the fact of the matter is they are both really good players but one guy is doing more on a struggling team than the guy playing with All-Stars all around him."
It is certainly a hot take, do you agree?
