Crafty self-promoter Burke puts himself in prime GM position

So how much is Brian Burke really worth -- and to whom?

Or put another way, is there such a thing as a general manager you absolutely have to have? Especially if there is no guarantee that he can actually make things better?

Expect those questions to keep the hockey world at least partially consumed until Burke announces his next job. Unless Mats Sundin decides he's ready to come back or Sidney Crosby lashes out at Alex Semin, the focus will be clearly on Burke, who formally declined a contract extension this week from the Anaheim Ducks and says he expects to have a new employer by Thanksgiving.

That '07 Stanley Cup looks mighty attractive to Brian Burke's suitors. (Getty Images)

Burke probably has to wait that long until the new boss can find a nameplate that says "Messiah" on it. Fair or not, Burke will arrive with that kind of high expectation wherever he does land, which is as much the result of his outsized personality and the way he has nurtured his reputation over the years as the way he ran the Vancouver Canucks and Anaheim.

For the time being, Burke gets to hang around Anaheim to help successor Bob Murray through a transition period before going on to save someone else. It's a reasonable condition of Burke's early extrication from his contract and the right thing for both sides, especially because the GM dropped enough hints before the official announcement that he wasn't coming back for family reasons.

And it does makes for an amicable parting, not to mention setting up a lucrative market for Burke's services, which should be a fascinating process considering these kinds of opportunities don't come along often for general managers -- and especially since it involves Burke. He has done a masterful job of creating demand for his brand, and it's hard to imagine conditions being more favorable now that Burke has ramped up the pressure on those suitors with his sudden and unexpected availability.

That is especially the case in Toronto, where Burke has managed to stoke the fires about him running the Maple Leafs for more than a year. Burke has never officially been in the running, of course, because of tampering regulations, but he has never downplayed the appeal of running an Original Six team. Burke has also worked the media effectively by remaining visible in the league's most important market. Altogether, it has created something of a larger-than-life impression about him in Toronto.

Funny thing is, the track record does not necessarily justify it. Burke took over a low-payroll Vancouver team that perennially missed the playoffs and got it to the postseason four times in a row. But what is less remembered is that the Canucks won only one playoff series under Burke.

Things were a lot better for Burke with Anaheim, of course. He got the Ducks to the Western Conference finals in his first season after the lockout and then won the Stanley Cup in 2007. Burke made his impact through some shrewd free-agent acquisitions and his ability to manage the salary cap by dumping albatross players like Sergei Fedorov, but he has never denied the critical role his predecessor, Bryan Murray, played in drafting and developing key players like Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry.

In many ways the most important pieces to the Ducks' Stanley Cup run were dropped in Burke's lap. After all, would Scott Niedermayer have signed on as a free agent after the lockout if Burke didn't have the defenseman's brother, Rob, in the fold? And had Murray not left behind the talented young assets, chances are Burke wouldn't have managed to make Edmonton the best offer for Chris Pronger.

That doesn't take away from Burke's ability to run a successful and competitive team and to do it in fiscally responsible way. He is a loyal, talented and no-nonsense kind of administrator who is forward thinking and helps sell the game as well as anyone. And since his primary goal is to be closer to his kids on the East Coast, Burke could easily find a comfort zone with the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks or New York Rangers.

All of those teams were expected to show interest along with Toronto when Burke's contract was scheduled to expire next summer, and each has a potential scenario that could interest him. But with the bidding process moved up, teams will have to act quickly to prepare their offers and, most important, come up with the right dollars and cents.

The going rate for top GMs now is about $2 million a year, and Burke should be expecting that number as a starting point for at least a couple of the teams. The speculation in Toronto is that the Maple Leafs will not be outbid, although one team executive was quoted saying that Burke could push himself out of the contention by aiming too high.

Still, if the Maple Leafs come up with at least $3 million a season, look for Burke to be calling the shots there real soon.