NHL AWARDS CEREMONY

June 25, 1998

Pat Burns

GARY MEAGHER: Questions for Pat?

PAT BURNS: I'm a little bit surprised. I know Larry and Ken had great seasons also, but I think it's a lot of there's a lot to be said for one person. I think this is a whole team affair, and a lot of coaches there are a lot of great coaches in the League. But to win it three different times in three different original six teams is something too. That is something that I'm very proud of. But there are a lot of people to thank along the way.

PAT BURNS: Well, it's one of the things that I've been called to do. It's a little bit of a cleanup hitter, once in a while to come in to places and fix things up. And it was I wouldn't say it was a mess in Toronto, I think it was in Toronto, when I came in, it was just a question of getting the boat turned around when they came in here. But the same thing for Boston, it was a question where I think they needed some leadership, and I was fortunate to have a guy like Ray Bourque who definitely helped in the leadership role. I think the players were looking for other kinds of leadership and it had to come from either the coaching staff, and we did that along with Jacques Laperriere and Bobby Francis, who we did show some leadership; we got the boat pointed in the right direction. It was a lot of fun to watch this young team grow together. I think that was the most pleasant part of the whole thing. A lot of people didn't give me a chance with old players; they never gave me a chance with young players. I didn't know what other chance I'm going to get to next time around. But it was something. And I really enjoyed this year.

PAT BURNS: No, they were hidden in the back for a while. I was doing some renovations on my home up in the country. I put them in the garage and one of them was holding the door. So... But now they're all safe in this trophy case. There will be one more up there, which is a lot of fun. But I had to put them there while we were doing some renovations.

PAT BURNS: They're all special. You know, every year that it has happened it's been a special thing. But I think this year I was probably less nervous going up this year than the others years. I finally got the words out. But this is our Academy Awards; this is our NHL Academy Awards. We've directed films all year long, and this is, you know we have the stars of the movie and you have young and up-and-coming new actors and rookies and guys that have been around and, of course, you have directors like coaches. This is it. And it's just like that. And you almost treat it like that.

PAT BURNS: Yeah. I think, you know, we did give a good show to the Washington Capitals. And to watch them continue on to where they did go, it had the feeling that maybe we could have been there, too. I think it was a learning process, too, for these young players; that they did learn this. Disputed goals I think the best way they're talking about changing rules. I think the best rule, if you want more goals, is to get rid of Hasek. You'll get more goals there. He's definitely one of the problems. But, you know, we keep talking about rules, and rules are going to be there. We have to let the game adjust. And if we keep on tinkering, we're going to hurt it. Let's let the game adjust. There's good goalies and good players. The game's not bad. Let's stop trying to find out what's wrong with it.

PAT BURNS: I never really thought about it that way. I was here in Toronto, enjoyed Toronto every day I was here. Now it's a new life for me. I love Boston and am enjoying it there now. Good luck to the next guy in Toronto, the next one. Is that it?