Burke attended St. Michael's college high school and played junior B hockey for the St.Michael's Buzzers in the 1983-84 season. He was taken in the 3rd round of the OHL draft by the Toronto Marlboros where he would play for the next two seasons.
Burke transitioned directly from Canada's Olympics national team to the Devils. He started 11 games for the Devils in the 1987–88 season, including an overtime victory against the Chicago Blackhawks on the final night of the season that qualified the Devils for their first Stanley Cup playoff series.
Dubbed a "rookie sensation", Burke helped the Devils go on a strong playoff run, defeating the division-leader New York Islanders in the first round in six games and then the Washington Capitals in seven games. The Devils were one game away from the Stanley Cup Finals but lost in Game 7 of the Wales Conference Finals to the Boston Bruins. Burke's play was widely heralded, with The Hockey Digest stating, "Burke is now the franchise for the Devils, and to whatever heights he rises, the Devils will rise with him," and in December 1988, Burke became the first Devil to appear on its cover.[2]
Because he played just 11 games in the 1987–88 regular season, Burke maintained his rookie status for the 1988–89 season. That season, he was named to the 1989 All-Star Game.
Burke played for the Devils through the 1990–91 season, then sat out the 1991–92 season requesting a trade. Instead, he joined coach Dave King and played for the Canadian national team in the Winter Olympics for a second time, backstopping Canada to a silver medal. Teammates on the 1992 Olympic team included future NHL players Eric Lindros and Joe Juneau.
Burke was selected to represent the Arizona Coyotes in the 2000-01 and 2001-02 NHL All Star games.
After that, Burke played for the Philadelphia Flyers (for the second time) recording his 300th career NHL win (the 20th goaltender to reach this milestone), and the Tampa Bay Lightning. Burke was placed on waivers by Tampa Bay before the 2006–07 season but was not picked up. He then played for Tampa Bay's American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Springfield Falcons. Burke was placed on waivers by the Lightning and picked up off re-entry waivers by the Los Angeles Kings.
Burke announced his retirement from professional hockey on September 18, 2007.[5] Burke currently sits #15 on the list of all time games played for NHL goaltenders (820) #30 all time wins (324) #50 all time shutouts (38) and #5 all time penalty minutes for goaltenders (310)
Burke played in 11 games for the Canadian national team in the 1988 and 1992 Winter Olympics.[6] He served as the back-up goaltender in the 1991 Canada Cup and has also played in 130 games for other Canadian national teams from 1985 through 2003.[7]
The 130 games that Burke has played for Team Canada represent the most games any goaltender has played Internationally for Canada
In 2020, Burke was named into the IIHF All-Time Canada Team along with Scott Niedermayer, Chris Pronger, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby.
Post-NHL career
On March 4, 2008, the Phoenix Coyotes hired Burke to become its director of prospect development.[8] He was also the assistant to the general manager and Coyotes' goaltending coach.[9]
In 2015 Burke was part of the management group along with General Manager Jim Nill, George McPhee and Pat Verbeek that led Canada to a gold medal at the IIHF World Championships. Canada went undefeated in the tournament held in Prague, Czech Republic beating Russia 6 to 1 in the gold medal game.
In 2016 Burke joined General Managers Brad Treliving and George McPhee as part of the management group for the IIHF World Championships in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Russia. Canada won the gold medal defeating Finland 2 to 0 in the final game.
In 2017 Burke co managed Team Canada at the IIHF World Championships along with Ron Hextall in Cologne, Germany and Paris, France. Canada took home the silver medal after being defeated 2 to 1 in a shootout by Sweden.
Burke was the General Manager for Team Canada at the Spengler Cup in 2016, 2017 and 2019 taking home gold medals. In 2018 he managed the team along with Ron Francis taking home the silver medal.
In September 2016, Burke joined the Montreal Canadiens as a professional scout.[10] He also spent the 2020-21 season as the full time goaltending coach with the Canadiens as the team made it to the Stanley Cup finals losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in 5 games. On July 25, 2017, he was announced as the general manager of Canada's men's team for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.[11] where Team Canada went on to win the bronze medal. That same season he co managed the IIHF World Championships with Martin Brodeur and Scott Salmond held in Copenhagen and Herning, Denmark.
In March 2021, Burke was appointed as the director of goaltending for the Montreal Canadiens.
On June 25, 2022, Burke was appointed as director of goaltending for the Vegas Golden Knights.[12] Even with the Golden Knights losing their previous season's starting goaltender Robin Lehner for the entire season due to injury and off-season surgery, and rotating through a total of five other goaltenders due to various injuries (by numbers of regular season games started, Logan Thompson, Adin Hill, Laurent Brossoit, Jonathan Quick, and Jiří Patera), Burke was able to help coach the Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup in 2023 (Burke's first Stanley Cup win).
Burke is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federations Players Committee where he has served on the committee since 2016.
Personal life
Burke and his wife Christy have one son together. Burke has two children from a previous marriage.[citation needed]
On November 2, 1997, Burke and his then-wife were both charged with assault following an alleged altercation at their home.[13][14] Despite the incident, the Carolina Hurricanes chose not to suspend Burke.[15] In January 1998, Burke was fined $200, sentenced to 18 months probation, and required to complete an educational program on domestic violence after pleading guilty to the assault charge.[16][17]
↑ Fontaine, Hugo; Cudzinowski, Matt (July 25, 2017). "Sean Burke named general manager for Team Canada in Pyeongchang". NHL.com. Retrieved December 12, 2017. The 50-year-old former goaltender joined the Canadiens in September 2016 as a professional scout for the western region.
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