Brian Burke is not a happy man.
The Calgary Flames president has addressed rumors that his team is making defenseman Dougie Hamilton available on the trade market, blaming "an army of leakers" who jumped into the fray after the Toronto Maple Leafs were mentioned as a potential suitor.
Related - Flames GM: Rumors of shopping Dougie Hamilton are 'completely false'
Here are his comments from an appearance on TSN 1050 on Wednesday:
Let's step back. This is one where it's very frustrating when you have to deal with leaks. Soon as one of the teams that's in the mix in the leaks is the Toronto Maple Leafs, now it's an army of leakers, an army of people who have no goddamn idea what they are talking about who will happily go on and say 'The Toronto Maple Leafs are doing this, and they're in on that'.
This is one where we think we can trace the leak. We got a call, our GM got a call, Brad Treliving is the GM. (Tre) got a call from a team, who shall remain nameless, at least for now - if this goes on much further I'm probably not going to remain nameless - and said 'Would you move Dougie Hamilton?' and Tre said no ...
So we told this team - and by the way, the offer they made was insulting. we told the team, 'No we're not moving him, and next time you have an idea that stupid, just save the quarter, don't go to the payphone.' That team started telling teams, 'Yeah, we made an offer on Hamilton.' Now it's a rumour, it's got legs. Someone's like, 'Well, they must be moving him.'
Burke added the Flames haven't offered Hamilton to any team, nor do they intend to trade him. They like Hamilton, they like his game, and they gave up significant assets to acquire him from the Boston Bruins.
Nothing, however, is out of the realm of possibility.
"If you've got the right offer, if someone offers us 20 first-round picks, are we making that deal? Probably. Wayne Gretzky got traded. But the difference between listening, listening attentively, and shopping are different things. Would we listen? Yes, it's our job to listen. Is he a guy we intend to move? Not a chance. Is that a guy we think will move? Not a chance."
Consider this case closed. For the time being, at least.
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