The 54-year-old Windsor, ON native, who played 18 seasons in the NHL, fielded questions on his work with Carey Price and Jake Allen, his goaltending philosophy, and what he admires most about the Canadiens' netminders.
Here are a few highlights from his chat:
Burke on the dynamic of coaching and mentoring Price, given his veteran status:
My role is to work with our goalies. These guys, not only Carey, but Jake as well, have a lot of experience in this League, and they've had a lot of success at different points in their careers. For me coming in here, it's working with them and it's bringing hopefully some of the wisdom that I've gained over the years. I've had a lot of experience, but hopefully along with that comes some wisdom. I don't think there's probably many situations that our goaltenders are going to be in that I haven't been in myself. There's the technical side of the game on the ice, looking for certain things, but at this stage of these guys' careers, I believe a lot of it is more understanding what they're going through, feeling what they're feeling, and I think that's something I can bring to them that should help them in the long run.
Burke on his impressions of Laval Rocket goaltender Cayden Primeau:
I see a lot of good things. I see a young goaltender that is getting stronger every day. He's starting to mature. But for a young guy, he has a level of maturity already, mentally, that puts him ahead of a lot of guys at that age. He plays the game with good instincts and he has vision on the ice. The physical attributes, getting stronger, that'll all come in time. I think being around a hockey family his whole life has helped. He understands the game. He has good hockey sense, and he's a kid that shows up every day and wants to get better. That's a real good combination of assets that he has.
Burke on what's missing in Price's game that has kept him from being as strong as he typically is:
I'm not going to say that I've seen anything that's missing. I think the goal for every player in this League is to be consistent. When you've played as high a level as Carey has, you're always striving to find that level consistently, and it's never easy. There's always little adjustments you make. There's a foundation of your game. He's a guy with a lot of experience. I'm not coming in here to reinvent the wheel or to teach him things that he's never thought of. I'm coming in here to work with him, to try to find maybe a little bit more consistency in a game plan, but that's a moving target as well. You're always adjusting. I think it's a challenge now in this League especially. There's so much skill that the goaltending position has evolved and has to keep evolving as well. Those are things that we'll work out together. It's a team within a team. You have your goaltenders, you have your goaltending coach, and you're trying to find your rhythm as your own little team so that when your goalies step on the ice, the rest of the club and the coaching staff is confident in your goaltending.
Burke on what makes Price different than goalies he's worked with in the past:
Experience. He's had a lot of success, international, NHL, a lot of games. That is something that is more unique. Most of the guys that I've worked with have all been very, very quality NHL goaltenders, number one guys, but prior to me getting them, most of them had hit points in their careers where they needed to reinvent themselves. Carey doesn't need to reinvent himself. This is a guy that not only has had success, but he's got a lot of good years ahead of him. My role is to come in here and to build on that. It's not to tear things down and to start over or anything like that, it's to build upon the strengths we already have. The beauty of this role is not only Carey, but Jake as well, there's a lot of really good stuff to build on.
Video: Sean Burke on working with Carey Price
Burke on his goaltending philosophy:
I'm not preaching anything. I'm not a guy that goes in somewhere and has a set way of doing anything. When you've played a long time, you understand that this game is complicated at times, things change, and what you're trying to do is simplify it. I have a philosophy on what I believe, but to say that I want every goalie to play deeper, I want every goalie to do the same thing, that just wouldn't be true. What I want is our goaltenders to give themselves an opportunity to make every save. I don't believe in a goalie allowing a goal he had no chance on. There are obviously many things that can happen, deflections and screens and all those variables that result in goals, but to just say that you had no chance, is not something I've ever subscribed to. What I want goalies to do is, I want them to play at a depth that they're comfortable with provided that they can get into position to make every save. If that means you want to play out higher or you want to play deeper, that's something that veteran guys can determine for themselves. When I'm watching, what I'm looking for is, if you're going to play higher, are you still giving yourself a chance to make saves or are you going to be late on plays because you don't have the ability to get across. I don't come in here with a set standard of rules for every goaltender. I'm not that stubborn to believe there's only one way to do things, but I am very, very adamant on goaltenders worrying about making every save. I don't think we're going to worry about what the defenseman did or what mistake was made in front of us or what unlucky play happened. We throw all that stuff out the window. Our job is always the same, to stop the puck and give ourselves the best chance to do that.
Burke on what he observed in Price's game that made him want to work with him:
What I look at when I watch goaltending and goalies is hockey sense. It's not different than for any other play. The best players in this League, the best goaltenders are ones that understand the game. They can read plays, they can see what's developing in front of them. That to me is always exciting. You can take goaltenders who have that and combine it with the physical stuff of the game because that's where I think you can reach a level that is above most guys in the League. There's a number of goalies who have good hockey sense. That's why they're in the NHL. A guy like Carey, and now that I've been here watching a guy like Jake, it's not surprising to me why he's had a lot of success. They both understand the game. A lot of that comes naturally, when you start playing the position, you start to figure things out and you start to read plays. The game itself is pretty predictable in a lot of ways, but a goaltender has to recognize the plays, he has to understand what's developing in front of him. That's exciting for me to work with guys like that.
Burke on his relationship with Price since taking the job:
He's a very committed athlete, he's very serious about what he does, he's driven, he wants to win, and he wants to learn. When I say that, it's always a credit to athletes, but it really is the truth. It doesn't matter how long you play or what level you're playing at, you can always learn. That's sort of been my experience up to this point. There's a real simple sort of way of looking at this, and that is that we all have the same goals here, so whatever we can do to help each other along the way here, that's going to be the plan.
Video: Carey Price describes his new "skull" mask design
Burke on his influence with respect to the number of games Price and Allen will play:
My thought on that is that's always the coach's decision. First and foremost, I have to have our goalies prepared, help them get prepared to play, and then if my opinion is asked, I'm very, very open to discussing those things all the time. Ultimately though, the head coach makes a decision on who plays, and my role is to help whichever goalie is playing be ready to go.
Burke on how he sees things shaping up between the pipes with a busy calendar ahead:
That's the luxury of having two really, really good goaltenders. Credit to the organization for making that commitment for going to get a guy like Jake who can put those number one type games together for you on nights when Carey isn't playing. I don't know that there's a magic number here. If I look around the League, I don't see a combination of goaltending that could be better than ours. If both guys are playing at the top of their game, that's as good a 1-2 punch or a 1-1A punch as there is in the League. My role is to hopefully help them get to that level consistently night after night, so that every time a guy steps on the ice for us, he can provide us with number one goaltending.
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