Sean Burke Autograph Card

One bit of news that flew under the radar this summer concerns one of my favourite goalies growing up, Sean Burke, who was added to the Montréal Canadiens' scouting staff, most specifically for the West. He will therefore be able to remain based in Arizona, where his wife and kids are.

The Habs now have the two best goalie coaches in the business of the last decade working for them; all that's left for them is to hire Patrick Roy as coach and GM and they'd have the complete trifecta...

I've written about Burke a lot on this blog before, so I don't want to repeat myself too much, but the three-time Vezina top-10 finisher has played for Team Canada on numerous occasions, compiling an incredible 2.28 GAA for the men's team, winning the Canada Cup in 1991, gold at the 1997 and 2003 World Championships, and silver at the 1986 World Juniors and 1992 Olympics. The Olympics and 2003 Worlds (1.28 GAA, .955 save percentage) were among the best goaltending performances I've seen; they both probably fit in my all-time top-25.

Here he is during his stint with the Florida Panthers, on card #209 from In The Game's 1998-99 Be A Player set:

It's the gold variant of the autographed insert sub-set, which he signed in thin black sharpie.