How Insider Knowledge, A Draft Day Steal & Cold-Hard Cash Got Pavel Bure To Vancouver | Hey Burkie

During the 1989 NHL Entry Draft, Brian Burke and the Vancouver Canucks selected Pavel Bure in the 6th round. Many teams argued that Bure wasn't eligible, but with some insider knowledge from one of his scouts and a hard-fought court case in Michigan, Pavel Bure would go on to call Vancouver home for seven seasons.
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[@MrArzha]

Whoever came up with "Hey Burkie", needs to get a raise. Also anyone involved in the creation of the episodes. These are perfect!

[@SourBuddha]

For sure, even the art is great!

[@freedom55or95]

Agree

[@NHLOHL-tu9bg]

True

[@jtshark9283]

Burke leaving out ONE VERY IMPORTANT PERSON. Igor Larinov. Burkie had Larinov was the one who told Penny that Bure had played 11 games

[@jonathanduplantis1403]

Um larionov???

[@September2004]

In his book, Brian Burke also credit's Glen Sather because Slats told the NHL that he also had the same game sheets that showed Bure played those extra 2 games and that the pick should stand. Keep in mind, this is a division rival, but he was acting honorable.

[@guitarplayer30001]

@@September2004 good sportsmanship, especially in the midst of all the apparent whining

[@September2004]

@@guitarplayer30001 Whining by who? Other teams who wanted Bure?

[@guitarplayer30001]

@@September2004 no, by the border guard

[@maxayson9386]

These are absolute gems, Brian is so charismatic, I could listen to him all week!

[@Berubium]

Just love these stories! Burke is such a great storyteller! Also love the animation & the hockey card imagery.

[@CaptCanada303]

This series is one of the best things on the internet!

[@truehockeyfan1179]

I read Brian Burke’s book and it’s a roller coaster from start to finish

[@Aarona97]

His book was great! One of my favourites

[@thethomasj1795]

What's it called?

[@EricHanscomdronelaw]

@@thethomasj1795 Burke's Law, A life in Hockey. Excellent book.

[@Skyshadow733]

Im gonna go buy it today thanks for the reminder that it exists, been meaning to get it for a while

[@thethomasj1795]

@@EricHanscomdronelaw Thank you! I am going to pick it up

[@notdustinschatz9357]

Corey Hirsh told a great Brian Burke story during the Canucks game last night. "At the final team dinner that year Brian stood up and said. I'll be blunt, the season was awful and half of you won't be back next year" He sat down the room went dead silent and sure enough 16 guys weren't back next season myself included

[@mikezhao1825]

He snapped his finger!

[@johnnymac4927]

“I think the communists where the best capitalists in the world” 😂😂😂. Truer words have never been spoken Burkie

[@Kevin-ch4qo]

Business is business.

[@guillaumelauzon571]

These mini series are incredibly fun. I hope we get them more frequently! The animation is spot on too.

[@Matthews34]

Love these, this shows how much work it takes for a team to get a player sometimes

[@September2004]

Especially a Soviet player back then. Especially a 'star' player.

[@zerosumgamez]

These animations wildly exceeded our expectations

[@September2004]

I've been thinking about the 90s Canucks and about Bure/Mogilny a lot recently. This is good. Edit: Jeez... I didn't realize that thing about Michigan.

[@prisonbound44]

Wow. These are really entertaining videos/cartoons. Keep em coming guys!

[@1daddy57]

These have helped me catch up to my new favorite sport to watch...during my late teen years, Bure was the man when the Avs and Detroit were beating each other's heads in...

[@thethomasj1795]

I love these shorts. I have such a deep new found respect for Brian Burke. He is a great interview and storyteller.

[@richardhenry5858]

Love these, thank you!

[@jigsaw99]

Shawn Antoski. Drafted right before Keith Tkachuk and Marty Bordeur. Imagine if Canucks got Jagr and Tkachuk/Bordeur instead of Nedved and Anotoski.

[@Statsy10]

Nedved turned out to be a pretty good player in his own right, albeit his stay in Vancouver wasn’t long enough. Everybody already knew that Jagr was probably the best talent in that draft, but the Iron Curtain didn’t come down until the following season so there were lots of question marks surrounding his freedom to come over to the NHL. Shawn Antoski was a swing and a miss, so it’s too bad we didn’t take Brodeur or Tkachuk, but drafting 18 year olds is a tricky business sometimes.

[@akeeling100]

Yeah, Antoski was a bust but it was the era of the power forward, half of whom couldn’t skate. He was pretty good in the Cup final run in ‘94.

[@patricklee4581]

Nedved was okay, I mean he turned into Janney which turned into LaFayette, Brown and Hedican... which packaged with bure turned into JovoCop

[@patricklee4581]

@@44Glendon lol is that all anyone who knocks on the canucks ever say? tons of teams have no cups at all idiot

[@kulba21]

This is a nice tie in to the Jagr thing. They didn't think they'd be able to get him out of Czechoslovakia without paying massive fee like the Penguins did. The theory is Jagr got himself to Pittsburgh by telling the teams drafting ahead of Penguins that he wouldn't report. After spending a year trying to get Bure out of Russia, they weren't going to go down this road again.

[@pondababa4197]

Thank you for bringing Pavel here. I believe I was at the game where he scored his first point on home ice.

[@Warpbox]

Everyone else: We flew the guy out here after seeing a few of his games Burke: We sued the Russians after digging up some scoresheets

[@DOW-E]

These, Hey Burkie productions are absolutely terrific. Spot On

[@Matt44275]

What an amazing story. Great video Sportsnet.

[@claudefortier3494]

This is the BEST hockey related content ever. Really good job!

[@timburr4453]

Very well put together

[@CrimsonCaliberOFFICIAL]

Love the Medicine Hat Tigers poster in the background! Go Tigers Go!

[@blakechinn5792]

Love this and I want more... Please keep it going

[@RParmable]

I always love these. Met Burke 30 years ago

[@jerryjanik480]

These videos and the crazy trees are my favorite things on KZbin thank-you Sportsnet here in the states this could be the episode of episode of Fuller house with Bob Saget

[@kimblechristie8829]

I saw Patel and Valeri training with their dad at UBC on the track with parachutes. Absolute hard work ethic!

[@igorlobkovenko9480]

I cant believe how good the animation is.

[@DEATHBYJOKES01]

Love Bure.. Reason why I loved Vancouver and started playing..

[@ramzi1979]

One of the best stories of all time!

[@tombergendahl7652]

License plate "Pav 96B".. cracked me up 😅👌👌

[@LaxfanLaxfan]

My favorite player of all time that's when I was a Vancouver fan

[@David-pt3mh]

The series is so so good

[@gregc8483]

These are great!

[@Phanyxx]

This was fantastic

[@rightwired]

I love these.

[@cdnsilverdaddy]

MY Gawd.. this is a greeaaatttt series.... wow

[@TheBlazersfan22]

0:14 loving the medicine hat tigers easter egg in the video

[@The40yearoldVegan]

Great story! Imagine that line of Federov Mogilny Bure wow

[@eddielindwall9849]

One night here in NJ after the Canucks devils game about 1.5hrs after the game Pavel and Gino Odjick walked out of the front of Continental Airlines Arena I was a kid at the time and I was in shock!!! Than he was really cool asked if I wanted anything signed and I had a few pucks and for some reason I had his Young Guns rookie with me with a bunch of other cards.. They were heading to Brooklyn to go eat dinner with a couple guy's 1 of the coolest nights of getting autographs back than!!! And hockey players are and always will be the nicest guys!!!

[@DantheManMarino13]

Im am literally obsessed with these 😆

[@LeafsOracle]

That was awesome

[@ronhalliday7304]

3:09 anecdote FTW!

[@jonathanduplantis1403]

Awesome story.

[@tmoore4075]

The stories about Moligny, Fedorov, Konstantinov and Bure...just some crazy crap had to go down in the late 80's and early 90's for Soviet players.

[@chrispswann6825]

Burke: "We got Bure, Petr Nedved and Shawn Antoski. Best 24 hour period ever for the Canucks" Yeah right. They drafted Nedved 2nd overall and he scored 124 points in 222 games for Vancouver before demanding a trade. More importantly they drafted him three spots ahead of Jaromir Jagr who would be drafted 5th. Then they drafted Shawn Antoski 18th overall. The next two players drafted were Keith Tkachuk and Martin Brodeur. Great scouting!!!!

[@davideaston6944]

perfect!

[@rockinyouallnight]

I love these cartoons.

[@Javster]

Best Canuck ever. Period!

[@livinglegend010]

Nobody tells hockey stories like Brian Burke

[@charge416]

These burkie segments are getting me through the pandemic

[@paulkim8651]

i still have bure's '91-92 upper deck card. i kept it because as a kid i thought it odd that he wasn't in a jersey or anything. he's just sitting on a railing on the beach wearing tee shirt, shorts, and roller blades.

[@ColinNesbit]

These all just need to be made into a Disney+ animated series! So Hilarious!

[@bluebear1985]

Considering the deal the NHL has coming up with ESPN in the States starting next season, I wouldn't be surprised if that actually did happen.

[@cmskid20]

I miss him on sportsnet

[@alphaspursncowboys]

2:59 what... my city in one of these stories

[@DiscoParachute]

Hey Burkie!

[@kristinaki87]

gold

[@JoE-kx7dw]

Ford Taurus 😆 I could so see Burkie driving one.

[@bodgertime]

great

[@alexrowdyrodrigues9716]

Haha The Russian Rocket! One of the greatest Russians to ever lace up a pair of skates!

[@grouchygrundle]

One of the best players ever.

[@alexrowdyrodrigues9716]

@@grouchygrundle I will stick him in the Best " Russian " category and Best " 90's Era " just because his injuries stopped him from fulfilling a lengthy career and a cup ring

[@grouchygrundle]

@@alexrowdyrodrigues9716 my opinion is pretty biased. He was my favorite player the first game he played. Injuries did take away some of his career & that crazy powerful first stride. He was must see tv for his first 5 seasons. Back to back to back 60+ goal seasons & almost all of them goals were amazing.

[@alexrowdyrodrigues9716]

@@grouchygrundle Trust me I loved the " Rocket " as well and honestly I can't find a comparable player today that could be Bure 2.0 because he doesn't exist yet and your right Bure's first stride was something to behold and his ridiculous speed as well

[@kelseykjarsgaard5774]

Wow

[@cameronkuom8168]

Apparently the Red Wings decided to pass on Bure in the 5th round because they weren't sure on his eligibility, so they decided to wait until the 6th round (116th overall) to take him. Vancouver got him 3 picks earlier at 113

[@theharpodcast177]

We talked to Burkie on our podcast as well. Check it out and leave a review! kzbin.info/www/bejne/fXvQk5qwe6xklaM&ab_channel=TheHarpodcast

[@KiwisCovers2112]

Hey Burkie, what was in that water? I feel like a friggin cartoon.

[@beardupbeerdown7355]

H&K 😂

[@knight905416]

Burkie was excited to get Shawn Antoski with the 18th pick overall. Over Keith Tkachuk, Martin Brodeur, Doug Weight or even Chris Simon.

[@brianlandes3739]

Hey Burke.

[@markcostigan7172]

Valeri was a great player for the Chiefs.

[@nskr160]

Pavel is 50? Damn.

[@brucemckinlay9739]

Why didn't some team take him in the first 3 rounds. Never quite understood that.

[@hklinker]

Legit question. Maybe too hard to get guys out back then.

[@canuckster24]

I'd like a Hey Burkie on why he stayed put at the 2003 trade deadline, if we traded for Damphousse as the rumours said, I don't think there's any chance in hell that the Wild or Ducks would have stopped us.

[@chrisdranfield3828]

They didn’t stand pat they acquired brad may. Damphousse wasn’t traded to anyone so either he didn’t want to be moved or asking price was too high. He was not as effective player by this point he retired a year later. Lastly the Canucks were not in a position to be pushing all their chips in that year in retrospect because Colorado and Detroit got upset it made for an easier path but they were not a strong enough team at that point to be trading futures. Keep in mind the ask probably included 2003 first round pick who turned out to be Ryan Kesler

[@derkaiserzen]

I kinda surprised Burkie still doing this eventhough he held a position in Pens organisation now

[@thecrusher6918]

He once said nucks are his fav team and he would like to work with em again

[@hklinker]

How old are these?

[@Blazers04]

How are these still being done with Burke being with the Penguins?

[@bentencho]

To think that the Canucks could have had Bure and Jagr playing together....

[@michaelgillam3475]

make more

[@STEPHENisSTEPHEN]

i always wondered why his draft was so low i knew about the russian thing but lol 11 games

[@skyhighreports1641]

What’s the background Russian music

[@philipyu1611]

Draft day: "Russian Dance" from the Nutcracker Suite. "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" would've worked too (what with Bure falling to the 6th). Not sure about the later track, though.

[@lbjmedia2151]

Also Detroit drafted Sergei Fedorov 73 overall and lead the way for other teams to draft Russian player thinking they knew something other teams didn't.

[@bathyprobe]

Burkie would be a fine car salesman... doesn't give off the slightest lament that Nedved and Antoski could have been Jagr and Brodeur....

[@odysseusthesojourner4401]

Detroit attempted to select Bure in the 5th round but were told by Gil Stein that he was ineligible. Kudos to Vancouver for taking him 18 picks later and risking it being a wasted pick.

[@kristopherjames1742]

And then they used Michigan case law to get him out of his contract. Extra salt.

[@jcvandamme6343]

Could you imagine that the Canucks could have had Bure, Selanne or Jagr and Tkachuk or Brodeur that day???

[@hyperrabbit1710]

Jaromir Jagr was 5th 😂

[@JoshBeut]

MH Tigers call out

[@okyouknowwhatever]

Shawn Antoski. Lol.

[@Djungelurban]

"He's not eligible, he only played 9 games!" Eliteprospects: Pavel Bure played in 32 games... How the hell did they miss 23 games?

[@rolandkennedy80]

Would have been great if the Sabres got him the year after Mogilny

[@hklinker]

Canucks had them both.

[@rolandkennedy80]

@@hklinker never said anything abt the Canucks not having them both. Any other random facts you feel like sharing?

[@roberthaynes_haynesrocks]

What's the story re. Pavel having to pay $50k from his own pocket to finalize the deal? (I vaguely remember something along those lines?) Nedved was the hype because he defected to Canada after the Mac's Midget Tournament in Calgary. Everyone knew Jagr was the most skilled of top 5, but deemed a few years away from Pro.... Oops..

[@sibbyeskie]

Yes the story was that Pavel stood up in court and offered $50k on top of the Canucks $200k to get the russians to agree on the spot. Those first few years in Vancouver were magic.

[@johnmay9598]

Why is the animator under the impression that peoples' noses are a different colour from the rest of their bodies?

[@CNBritz]

I thought it looked pretty good - I hope you enjoyed the story, at least. Have a great day.

[@hklinker]

Guess you haven’t heard about artistic licence.

[@jaideepbura1936]

This series is amazing Burkie tells the best stories, "I think the communists were best capitalists in the world!" - I'm dying!!!!!

[@justinland1208]

Yeah, I'm for sure stealing that line.

[@GG-zb2fv]

Shawn who? Bust...why mention him lol

[@kamranrashid2772]

Biggest steal in nhl history, as well as Artemi Panarin…

[@ibelieveinsomething3895]

What about Datsyuk??

[@RobDucharme]

"He drafted Petr Nedved.." If you're a Canucks fan, never look up who was picked a couple spots after Nedved, unless you want to get really annoyed.

[@hklinker]

Mike Ricci? I can live with it.

[@eumenides5011]

Question: if he was ineligible in rounds 1-3, why was there an outrage when he was drafted in round 6? Shouldn’t he have been fair game by round 4?

[@carminejr5571]

Wow chiclets made all of this happen

[@ryanmitchell4266]

Only part I don't get, If Bure was such a can't miss prospect (that every team got upset about being drafted) why didn't some team just use a 3rd round pick and snag him? Like, what's a 3rd round pick at the mid to end of the 3rd round really worth? The Canucks took Rob Woodward (who never played a game) in the 2nd round. Why not just take Bure there and save yourself the drama?

[@jameson1239]

Teams didn’t think he was eligible for the draft and the NHL can fine you or rescind the pick I think the wing tried to grab him in the 5th round but didn’t

[@ryanmitchell4266]

@@jameson1239 But any team (including the Canucks) could have taken him in the first 3 rounds, because he was eligible for those rounds. If he was that good, why risk it, just take him at the end of the 3rd and he'd be yours

[@jameson1239]

@@ryanmitchell4266 teams didn’t know he was eligible and I think they drafted him in the 5th round to avoid controversy

[@tonttaana8930]

Just imagine that Red wings draft Fedorov/Lidström/Konstantinov trio in that draft 1989. What if Bure got draft in Detroit...

[@youvegottabekiddingme1955]

They tried to draft him in the Fifth Round I believe before they were told they can't, but they decided to draft him in the Sixth regardless, but Vancouver snatched him up a few picks before the Wings were on the board. All the "What Ifs"...

[@AStupidTourist]

Canucks should've drafted Jagr 🤦‍♂️

[@mrhuxley5044]

Jagr refused to play for any other team except Pittsburgh or Edmonton.

[@ffBkLee]

We need to get Tony Gallagher to tell the story

[@chrisdranfield3828]

Why does he think nedved and antoski were good picks.

[@kylestremick5108]

"I think the communists were the best capitalists in the world." Damn, he just destroyed both ideologies in one go.