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It’s not that rare to see NHL players settle their differences by dropping the gloves and fighting each other on the ice, but when you’re a member of a team’s front office, you’re expected to harness some less violent methods to resolve any disputes. However, that didn’t stop one GM from trying to get another to fight him in a barn before Gary Bettman intervened.
If you’re a hockey fan, there’s a good chance you’re familiar with Brian Burke, a wildly entertaining figure who quit the AHL to attend Harvard Law School and worked as an agent before pivoting to an executive role for a number of franchises as well as the NHL itself.
The man known as “Burkie” served as the GM of the Whalers, Canucks, Ducks, and Maple Leafs (he also worked in similarly high-ranking roles for the Flames and Penguins), and during his time in Anaheim, he found himself engaged in a pretty public feud with former Oilers GM Kevin Lowe.
Edmonton was in dire need of an offensive weapon during the offseason in 2007, and Lowe began targeting a number of players who’d hit the market. That included Dustin Penner, a restricted free agent who’d won a Stanley Cup with the Ducks a couple of months before he received an offer sheet for a five-year, $21.25 million from the Oilers.
Lowe knew Burke was dealing with some salary cap headaches, and Anaheim was unable to match the contract that Penner eventually signed. That development spawned some fairly juicy NHL drama, as the two men engaged in a fierce war of words in the media.
Things eventually reached a point where Burke wanted to stop trading verbal jabs in favor of physical ones, which almost led to what would’ve been one of the wildest moments in hockey history.
Gary Bettman had to stop Brian Burke and Kevin Lowe from fighting each other in a barn in Lake Placid
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The feud in question simmered for a full year before it reached a boiling point in the summer of 2008.
Burke gave a number of interviews where he implied Lowe had not only hurt the Ducks but the entire NHL with the offer to Penner; the crux of his argument was that the Oilers had given the winger more money than he was really worth to ensure Anaheim couldn’t match the offer and subsequently threw the free agency market out of whack by overvaluing the forward.
Lowe eventually clapped back in a very spicy interview with a radio station in Edmonton where he called Burke a “moron” and “underachieving wannabe” tasked with running a team “in a pathetic hockey market” who would say anything to get his name in the headlines.
Lowe also stated, “If he wants to debate what our offer sheet did to them or to the salaries: any time.” Based on Burke’s recollection of the tirade, he interpreted that comment as an invitation to hash out their differences via mutual hand-to-hand combat.
Burke didn’t want to contact his foe directly, so he opted to hit up Rangers GM Glen Sather and delivered the following message:
“I’m going to be in Lake Placid on August 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. I’m staying at the Holiday Inn. Tell him to get his butt up there.
I’ll rent a barn, I’ll kick the crap out of him, I’ll drive him to the hospital, and we’ll get this all put behind us.”
It didn’t take long for NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to catch wind of that invitation, as he called Burke and told him he’d suspend both men from the league for the remainder of their contracts if they actually followed through with the barn fight (the Ducks issued a statement confirming he’d told each of them to “cease and desist”).
You obviously can’t blame Bettman for stepping in, but it would’ve been a whole lot cooler if he hadn’t.