Coach & GM Quotes

Alain Vigneault

"Everybody's making this team out to be almost unbeatable. We're going to step on the ice and try to prove differently. [Tonight] is a big game for us as far as our level of competitiveness and where we stand against this team."- Alain Vigneault

Dave Nonis

"Confidence." - Nonis on why the Canucks have suddenly ripped off seven straight wins after struggling early in the year.

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Brian Burke

"I have never been embarrassed to work in the NHL as I was on July 1 and 2. I know we can't support the salaries. I'm running my business like a business but I'm not going head-to-head with people who are crazy as far as I'm concerned. We're going head-to-head with people who are nuts, absolutely out of their minds." Brian Burke about free agent spending.

"I want to point out to the officials that Todd Bertuzzi does not play for Detroit. It just looks like that because he is wearing two or three red sweaters all the time. I didn't know that tackling was an acceptable tactic. I didn't see it in the rulebook." -- 4/24/02: Canucks GM Brian Burke who thinks the Canucks have been getting the shaft from the referees in the playoffs.

"I understand why he had to do this. I have no hard feelings. If he gets the deal he should take it. But like I've said before, if he can get the kind of contract he's looking for, I'll drive him to the airport." - Brian Burke when Trent Klatt signed with the LA Kings.

"Right now, there are so few teams selling and so many buying. It's like the Discovery Channel. Seventy-five vultures in a tree waiting for one zebra to die. I'm not sure we're going to be able to make a deal." -- 3/18/02: Canucks' GM Brian Burke a day before the NHL trade deadline.

"After inviting us into the alley, you can't complain if you get kicked in the groin." -- 7/23/02: Canucks general manager Brian Burke on the possible arbitration hearing of Brendan Morrison

"Another point. Our goaltender can be identified by the large pads and mask that he wears. He's also the goaltender on the ice that does not dive when he gets brushed." -- 4/24/02: Canucks GM Brian Burke commenting on Detroit goaltender Dominik Hasek.

"We already have a Federov and thats one Federov too many." Burke on being asked if he wanted Sergei so that the brothers could play together.

"Hockey is a man's game. The team with the most real men wins." - Brian Burke

"The Minnesota Wild isn't a hockey team. It is a cult." - Brian Burke on the Canucks' second round foe in 2003.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, hiring Marc Crawford was the best move I've made." - General Manager Brian Burke.

"There are only 2 Seasons in Vancouver, Summer & Hockey." - Brian Burke

"To move this team takes one phone call. Twenty-five cents and a pay phone to move this team. This is high stakes poker folks and it's about the future of this city and this province." - Brian Burke on Ottawa's backing out of a deal to help Canadian teams.

"We have some problems with this franchise. There is no quick fix. We need the fans to be patient. We will lie freely [to the media] if it throws someone [a rival team] off the scent [Burke laughs]. We will use you." - Brian Burke the day he was introduced to the Vancouver media.

"The very fact that Al Strachan reported it, in my opinion, makes it extremely likely it has no factual basis what-so-ever. I deny it specifically and categorically. I have never discussed Brendan Morrison with Buffalo, I have never discussed Bryan Allen with Buffalo and I have not talked to Darcy Regier [Sabres' GM] in three weeks. So I'm shocked that a respectable media outlet like Hockey Night in Canada would allow this garbage rumour-mongering to take place. I'm amazed that whoever produces that show would tolerate this."
-- 3/5/01: Vancouver GM Brian Burke on a Al Strachan, Morrison & Allen for Peca rumour.

“The mere fact it is in Larry Brooks' column renders it suspect. That's my quote."
-- 9/17/02: Brian Burke regarding rumour monger Larry Brooks of the NY Post on a deal with the Rangers involving Peter Schaefer.

"Now we're paying elite money to a second-line centre. What the hell is going on?"
-- 7/5/02: Canucks' GM Brian Burke after some high priced free agent signings. Signings included Bobby Holik (five years, $45 million), defenceman Darius Kasparaitis (six years, $25.5) and goaltender Mike Richter (two years, $8 million.)

"It's a media induced fantasy" - Burke when the media asked him about the players he could be considering before the trade deadline.

"Hockey isn't a game in Canada: it's a religion." -- Brian Burke

"Sedin is not Swedish for punch me and headlock me in a scrum." -- Brian Burke

"His play has been uninspired and Fedor is going to be in Winnipeg for a long time if he doesn't start playing better. He can start looking for a house there as far as I'm concerned." - Brian Burke on Fedor Fedorov

"Good, so he's going back to $65 a week?"-- Brian Burke, on word that free agent Peter Schaefer was skating with the WHL's Vancouver Giants.

"We can put football helmets on the guys and we'll have five quadriplegics by Christmas the first year we do that." --Brian Burke (on the subject of full-face shields becoming mandatory)

Marc Crawford

"Mike Keane was on the bench and yelled down at [Levesque] 'don't worry, he'll get up,'" said Crawford. "I started laughing. I thought that was pretty funny." - Crawford on UBC goalie Chris Levesque getting called to the NHL and almost having to play as Johan Hedberg went down.

"The most important thing is playoff sex.....er....um...I mean success" - Crawford

"I think one of the reasons we got off to a slow start last year is we played too many games against the Chicago Blackhawks early." - Marc Crawford on playing a gritty Chicago team that last year went 2-1-1 against Vancouver - all the games before November 28.

"No, I didn't get an apology and I didn't ask for one either. Do you think he will?" -- 2/10/02: Canuck coach Marc Crawford regarding a blown offside call by linesman Mark Wheler.

"I don't want to get too medical for you guys, but it's sore." -- 2/4/02: Canuck coach Marc Crawford, telling reporters why goalie Dan Cloutier won't even test his ankle on the ice until Wednesday or Thursday.

Marc Crawford's response to how long Patrick Roy had been pronouncing his name Roo-aw. "Ever since he's been a little boo-aw."

"Mike Keenan has been responsible for creating a lot of good things for coaches, like mid-season job openings." - Vancouver coach Marc Crawford

"That's the beauty of sport: you learn lessons along the way" - Marc Crawford

"Maybe he called for it." -- 4/6/02: Vancouver Canucks coach Marc Crawford when asked about Jovanovski's pass in the slot to Minnesota's Marian Gaborik. Jovanovski was credited with five turnovers and several times was in the wrong place defensively against the Wild.

"I'm like Jaques Martin, but funnier" -- Marc Crawford

''I've got the last line change at home, so I'll delay the puck drop a little longer if I like the song that's playing,'' joked Crawford, who on occasion will request a particular song be played during a game to spur on his charges. "But I think music can have the power to add a little 'Ooomph' to a situation, either through the tempo or through the lyrics, so I like to have fun with it."

"I think that play was a disgrace. It was bush." -- 3/11/02: Canucks' coach Marc Crawford after Sunday's game against the Sharks. San Jose's Brian Marchment went down quite easily due to an elbow from Jarkko Ruutu late in the third period. After laying on the ice as if he was dead, Marchment jumped to his feet as soon as Ruutu was assessed a five-minute major.

"He's shooting." - Marc Crawford when asked why Warriner's got so many shots early in the year.

Harry Neale

"Last season we couldn't win at home, and this season we can't win on the road. My failure as a coach is that I can't think of any place else to play." - Harry Neale, as the coach of the Vancouver Canucks.

Trying to be somewhat tactful in pondering the future of the hapless club, Davidson asked Neale: “Geez, Harry, where do you go from here?” Without batting an eye, Neale deadpanned: “We go to Buffalo, Al.”