News from June 1998
Scroll down, or choose the headline to read the news:
Monday, June 29, 1998
Burke comments on Pavel's contract.....
by Jim Jamieson, Vancouver Province
A clause in Pavel's contract that says he must be paid the average of of the league's top three forwards next season after hitting the 50-goal mark has been interpreted as bumping the Russian Rocket up to $10 million US from $5.5 million, but Burke said that was not completely accurate though he declined to explain that.
Friday, June 26, 1998
Bure not Canuck draft bait
General manager Brian Burke emphasizes that he isn't considering packaging his super star to improve Vancouver's draft position.
Elliott Pap Vancouver Sun
TORONTO -- If the Vancouver Canucks make any kind of deal before or during Saturday's NHL entry draft in Buffalo, it won't involve disgruntled superstar Pavel Bure.
New Canuck general manager Brian Burke stated emphatically here Thursday that Bure "won't be part of any package" that would enable Vancouver to move up in the draft.
Thursday, June 25, 1998
Pavel runner up for the Lester B. Pearson award
Hasek Repeats as Players' Pick for the Pearson
Dominik "The Dominator" Hasek has joined a hallowed club by taking home his second consecutive Lester B. Pearson Award, which each year goes to the player whom other NHL players have selected as most valuable during the regular season. In the 28-year history of the National Hockey League Players' Association-sponsored award, only Marcel Dionne, Wayne Gretzky and Guy Lafleur have ever won back-to-back honors.The other four finalists for the 1998 Lester B. Pearson Award were Pavel Bure of the Vancouver Canucks, Wayne Gretzky of the New York Rangers, Jaromir Jagr of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Teemu Selanne of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks.
Named after the former Prime Minister of Canada, and once described by Mark Messier as the award he was "most proud" of receiving, the Lester B. Pearson Award has been presented by the players since the 1970-71 season, when Phil Esposito was the inaugural recipient. Wayne Gretzky has captured the players' choice award hardware an unmatched five times during his Hall of Fame-bound career.
Tuesday, June 23, 1998
Burke-Bure run-in
Brian Burke is the new general manager of the Vancouver Canucks. Burke worked for the Canucks as an assistant general manager under Pat Quinn from 1987 to '92. He left to become the GM of the Hartford Whalers, before heading off to New York to serve as the NHL's vice-president of hockey operations.When asked how he's deal with Pavel Bure's trade demands, Burke responded with the now famous "Inmates don't run the aylum. If a player wants to be traded, that's fine but he's got a contract to play here. The only way a player gets traded in my organization is because it upgrades the organization. Players aren't going to demand who goes where here. The team's going to decide if that makes sense. But I can't answer the question fully until I sit down with Pavel and find out just what the nature of the problems are. My goal is to figure out what's bothering him and see if he can play here."
According to Tony Gallgher of the Vancouver Province newspaper, "Burke went out of his way to drop his gloves with Pavel Bure when he offered this quote, just the type of confrontation between management and player that has been so destructive here in the past. What Burke might not have noticed during his term in New York is that in fact it is the players who have the power to run teams, and it's entirely likely Bure will demonstrate it if necessary.
With his words Monday, Burke virtually guaranteed Bure will never play another game in a Canucks uniform. The Russian has patiently played through and watched Pat Quinn's tough-guy routine and won't be opting up with another one. Burke must trade him or let him sit on the sidelines when the season starts, while his team looks to the likes of May and Peter Zezel for goals.
Bure won't miss the money. With what he's banked over the last four years, the interest alone will give him more than Burke makes on his contract. Like Sergei Fedorov, he would enjoy the time away from hockey in Moscow or Los Angeles.
Burke knows he has to move Bure. That's why he'll consider a deal which San Jose is kicking around and would do if Vancouver is willing.
That would call for the Sharks to deliver their No.2 pick, which is centre David Legwand, and Owen Nolan to Vancouver for Bure. Naturally there could be any number of variations on this theme. The Canucks would get to keep their No.4 pick taking one of the defencemen, which would do wonders for their future on Burke's long-term approach. Keenan and Messier would be apt to find this most disagreeable.
San Jose by the way, rolling in young talent, would move Bure to another team immediately for solid middle-aged veterans, or precisely the kind of deal coach Keenan wants."
Tuesday, June 16, 1998
New contract for Valeri
The Calgary Flames signed right winger Valeri Bure to a new contract yesterday. Terms were not disclosed.The 5-foot-11, 185-pound brother of Canucks star Pavel Bure had five goals and four assists in 16 games with the Flames this season after his trade from the Montreal Canadiens.
Bure, was a second-round draft pick of the Canadiens in 1992. He was acquired from the Habs in exchange for winger Jonas Hogland and defenceman Zarley Zalapski on Feb. 1
Friday, June 12, 1998
Gillis still Pavel's agent....
Elliott Pap Vancouver Sun
Gillis shot down rumours circulating in the Russian players' community that he had told Canuck star Pavel Bure, another of his clients, to seek out a new agent three weeks ago."That's completely untrue," Gillis stated. "I have spoken to Pavel about four or five times in the last week. He is still in Russia and he won't be making any form of statement on his future until (a) he returns from Russia and (b) he has an opportunity to see how the Canucks are prepared to react to the conversations we've had so far."
Saturday, June 5, 1998
Bure named in tapes aired at Guess trial
Neal Hall Vancouver Sun
Vancouver's most famous hockey player is dating the niece of Vancouver's most famous juror, Gillian Guess, a jury heard Friday while listening to wiretap evidence.The court was listening to a conversation between Guess and her older sister Vanessa Bryan, which had been secretly tape-recorded by police, when it came out that Bryan's daughter, Dahn Bryan, 23, is dating the Russian Rocket, Pavel Bure.
A model and actress -- she had a role in the 1996 made-in-Vancouver movie Rumble in the Bronx -- Dahn Bryan is the former girlfriend of X-Files star David Duchovny.
During wiretap evidence Friday, Guess and her sister were heard discussing police pressuring them to talk before Guess was charged with obstruction of justice, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
Vanessa Bryan said one police investigator suggested to her, "It's not going to look very good when Bure's name is splattered all over the front pages." But Bryan added on the tape: "Pavel's not worried about . . ."
"Your daughter is in a long-term relationship with Pavel Bure?" asked defence lawyer Peter Ritchie. "Yes," replied Vanessa Bryan during her testimony at the obstruction-of-justice trial of Guess, who is accused of wilfully perverting justice by having an affair with accused killer Peter Gill while he was on bail at his 1995 murder trial.
Monday, June 1, 1998
Top Canucks safe
Lori Culbert Vancouver Sun
The company that owns the Vancouver Canucks won't cut expensive, big-name players like Mark Messier and Pavel Bure to offset the $30 million it lost last season, the president says."We're not in any way necessarily trying to drive the player payroll down. What we're trying to do is increase the quality of the team based upon the given payroll level that we're at," Stephen Bellringer, president and chief executive officer of Northwest Sports Enterprises Ltd., said Sunday.
His comments came after the company announced Friday a loss of $30,695,585, or $30.48 per share, for the nine months that ended March 31. In the same fiscal period last year, the company lost half that much -- about $15 million.
Although Bellringer said players' salaries were the main reason for the increased losses, he said trading star players isn't the way to balance the books.
"Obviously last year we had a number of trades that we completed, but I think every single trade was to improve the team and not necessarily to address the payroll question," he said.
"So if there is any changes that we do make in the future, it will be for the same reason: to try to improve the team."
Bure, the team's best player, has been unhappy at times during the past four years and has said he would prefer to skate elsewhere. However, it's likely he'll be willing to stay for about $10 million US a season.
Team captain Messier, 37, was injured for much of the year and had a disappointing season, but his contract states he must be paid $14 million US for the next two years.
The Canucks had one of the biggest payrolls -- $33.4 million US -- but finished the NHL regular season in last place in the western conference.
Bellringer said earlier this year that the payroll has to be reduced. But Stan McCammon, deputy chairman of Northwest's parent company Orca Bay Sports, said in April that wasn't the case.
Despite the heavy losses, attendance at the 35 regular-season home games played until March 31 was about 89 per cent of the 18,400-seat capacity G.M. Place -- down slightly from 90 per cent last season.
But Bellringer said ticket sales are just a portion of the team's revenue, which also includes corporate sponsorship and money from television, radio and cable stations that pay for broadcast rights.
He said the Canucks have several plans to boost revenue, and hoped the team's losses would drop in 1998-99:
Orca Bay has a new sponsorship agreement with Molson Breweries.
VTV outbid BCTV for the rights to air 30 hockey games next season. BCTV invested about $1.7 million in 1997-98, and VTV is believed to have raised the price by about $1 million for next year.
CTV's new SportsNet channel outbid TSN for weekday NHL broadcast rights.
Bellringer said he also wants to look at the amount of tax the team has to pay. (NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and Gordon Giffin, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, have said Canadian NHL cities should consider providing the same tax and financial breaks U.S. municipalities give their sports teams.)
Bellringer added that the team's financial woes are also due to the weak loonie. He said Northwest earns most of its money in Canadian dollars, but pays its players in U.S. cash.
Bellringer hopes ticket sales will increase next year. "If we can provide a better quality team, then I think Vancouver hockey fans will come out and watch it," he said. "In fact, we're very pleased [with] the fact the fans stayed with us during what was a very difficult year."
He would not comment on a report that the Canucks would speak with Edmonton Oilers general manger Glen Sather this week to try to fill Vancouver's vacant general manager position.
Monday, June 1, 1998
Fan Club is featured in June issue of Beckett
The following is an excerpt from the issue relating to the club.
Beckett, Issue No. 92, page 6 NetMinding Address: http:///www.pbfc.org Subject Matter: Pavel Bure Calling Card: The official fan club of the Russian Rocket Overview: You need to know anything about Pavel? This is the Place! This site features daily updates on Bure hapenings, a comprehensive Bure chronology and stats log and a chat room to discuss all things Pavel. The simple layout makes for easy navigation throughout the site. Cool Stuff: If you're a Bure fan because "he's so dreamy" you'll have to clear out some space on your hard drive to download the hundreds of photos, including many otherwise unavailable behind the scenes shots. And if you're a plain ol' card geek, you'll be impressed by the scans - front and back - of almost 700 Pavel issues. Serious fans will be thrilled by the extremely affordable souvenirs offered through the site, including several fan club exclusives. Among the best: annual fan club trading cards ($2-$3), All-Star 8x10 photos autographed by both Pavel and Alexander Mogilny ($25) and official fan club crests ($4). Key Links: You probably won't feel the need to go anywhere else. But on the off-chance that you do, the site provides links to the Canucks, the Syracuse Crunch, the NHL and sites run by other Pavel fans. Analysis: Visually, this site could be more compelling. Of course, if you want information or photos that download quickly, you'll likely be pleased by the minimalist approach. This could easily serve as the model for player specific Web sites.
Monday, June 1, 1998
Pavel article in April issue of Beckett Sports Collectibles
