On This Date, 1992: Brian Burke Replaces Ed Johnston as Director of Hockey Operations

In an NHL.co interview Burke had this to say about his stint in Hartford -- and explains his decision to eliminate "Brass Bonanza."

"...When Brian Burke took over as the general manager of the Whalers in 1992, one of his first decisions was to get rid of the very popular song, much to the dismay of Whalers fans and people like Gordie Howe and Ron Francis.

..."I did because there were players who were embarrassed by it," said Burke. "An NHL team with a fight song, they were embarrassed by it. As soon as I went to the NHL they put it back in. No big deal."...Burke didn't like the song, but Maguire was one of many, including, Gordie Howe, who would suddenly just hum the tune. "Whether they were working out or on a plane or different things. (Maguire hums the song). It's a pretty catchy tune. Gordie heard it a lot because he scored. Whenever you heard it, you did something well."

"Everything they had done in Hartford to that point had less than desirable results," said Burke... we eliminated the fight song, we made some major moves that would have led to long-term success but it just didn't work out between me and the owner and I went back to the NHL."
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"Yeah, I think they are really an under-appreciated team in the history of the League," Maguire said. "If you look at the great players who went through there, whether it would beGordie Howe, Dave Keon or Ricky Ley. You look at the fact they had unbelievable talent in Ronnie Francis, Ulfie Samuelsson, Kevin Dineen, Ray Ferraro. I mean there was a huge legacy of great talent that went through there. It was a team that was run by a legendary guy like Emile Francis. You know I can't say enough good things about it. Everything was great about it and (Hartford) was a great place to live too."