Brian Burke

With the NHL general manager's meeting scheduled to begin Monday in Naples, Fla., Brian Burke of the Ducks still isn't certain what he hopes to accomplish, if anything. "I'll be going into the meeting groping around like a sightless person," Burke said Wednesday. "I'm not sure what I have yet, and I'm not sure what I'm looking for. . . . If we can add at the right price, we will." As the Feb.

Ducks General Manager Brian Burke has often said that he doesn't do much dealing at the annual NHL trade deadline. Although Burke has made deadline-day deals in each of his two previous seasons with the team, they have largely been second-tier moves. The only addition he made for last season's run to the Stanley Cup was acquiring rugged winger Brad May from Colorado in exchange for goalie Michael Wall.

The Ducks are having talks with General Manager Brian Burke about a contract extension amid increasing speculation that the Toronto Maple Leafs have targeted him for the same job in their organization. Michael Schulman, the Ducks' chief executive, would not say whether there have been formal discussions to extend Burke's contract, which runs through next season. The Ducks' bid to repeat as Stanley Cup champions ended Sunday. "We talk probably every day," Schulman said.

Brian Burke cleared up his immediate future with the Ducks by agreeing Wednesday to remain as executive vice president and general manager through next season while negotiations continue on a contract extension. The move by Burke to serve out the final year of his four-year contract was designed to end rumors that he is in line to become the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who were believed to have him atop their list of candidates.

The feud between Ducks General Manager Brian Burke and his Edmonton counterpart, Kevin Lowe, that has simmered for a year is at full boil again. Largely staying quiet for a year while Burke repeatedly criticized his decision to tender lucrative offer sheets, Lowe shot back, calling Burke a "moron" following comments made by the Anaheim GM to The Times earlier this week.

Brian Burke insists this won't be about him. But the fingerprints are all there. The Ducks' general manager won't do anything more than sit in his box high atop the Honda Center when his team takes on the Vancouver Canucks tonight in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals. The game won't be decided by him. But the hottest topic Tuesday was not the Ducks' long layoff or the prospect of facing Roberto Luongo in goal.

CALGARY, Canada -- The topic, or at least one of them, was the Wizard of Oz on a brisk morning recently here at the Saddledome, and the Edmonton Oilers' Dustin Penner reached back into his childhood and pondered the size of the man. "Was the Wizard of Oz short? I'll have to Google it," he said, sounding amused. This wizardry had nothing to do with slick stick handling in the slot.

Brian Burke came to Anaheim with a plan and he wasn't going to scrap it when the Mighty Ducks' locker-room chemistry was slow to develop or when the rest of the West seemed to be sprinting away. The Duck general manager says he believes in his team and his strategy as strongly today, with the Ducks in fifth place in the conference, as he did on Jan. 13, when the team hit a low point of eight points out of the eighth and final playoff spot.

If the Lakers were the top team in the NBA and had set a league record for road victories, all of Southern California would be talking about it. Lakers flags would be flapping outside car windows. The south wall of the Hotel Figueroa across from Staples Center would have those giant portraits -- maybe Bynum, Abdul-Jabbar, Chamberlain. No first names needed. Sports talk radio would be ablaze with Lakers callers.

Brian Burke, vocal and opinionated, will be hired as the Mighty Ducks' general manager, a source familiar with the negotiations said. Burke, who spent five seasons as the Vancouver Canucks' general manager, will receive a five-year contract at more than $1 million per year, the source said. His hiring is expected to be announced at a June 20 news conference, which will also be used to introduce Henry and Susan Samueli as the team's new owners.