[Chief Rum]

You know what? No, I'm not giving Burke a pass on this one. I don't care how many good things he has done. This has to be one of the stupidest things I have seen a GM do--in any sport--in the past several years.

Bryzgalov is a player everyone pretty much agreed was a #1 netminder serving as a backup. He's even had playoff success, in both of the past two seasons. His numbers are comparable to Jiggy's in many ways. The team never missed a beat when they switched goalies.

Tonight, on Duck Calls (the post game show on the local radio), the announcer said Burke claimed he did this because he couldn't get a deal he liked. Well, Burke, then you sit on the guy and you don't do a damn thing until you get that deal. Or you lower your expectation of what you will receive and move him that way. Point is, you move him for "something" not freakin' "NOTHING"!

And, this is most important. YOU DON'T LET HIM MOVE TO A FREAKIN' DIVISION RIVAL!!! I don't care if you only get a bag of flippin' pucks for him, you do not move him to a Pacific Division team, even the Yotes. You send him East, where with the NHL's freaky schedule you never have to play the guy. Or if you do keep him West or even Pacific, you damn well better get the best deal ever for him.

There is absolutely no excuse for this move. Even the salcap reason for Niedermayer doesn't fit, because, as mentioned, you can't assume salary, and trading him removes the salary anyway. And the way NHL waivers works, the Ducks have to pick up some of his salary anyway doing it this way.

This is so pheonomenally dumb on so many levels, I don't know what else to say. Fit Burke for a dunce cap right now.