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BOSTON — Brian Burke doesn’t like traded players to go away mad, but Kris Versteeg apparently did.
Versteeg said: “I wasn’t given an opportunity in some senses to fit,” when asked to summarize his 53 games as a Leaf with 35 points and a minus-13.
It’s true that his time with the club’s top lines was restricted, especially after Clarke MacArthur, Nikolai Kulemin and Mikhail Grabovski became the undisputed No. 1 group, but neither could Versteeg ignite Phil Kessel and, by extension, centre Tyler Bozak.
“I’m not going to respond,” Burke said when asked about Versteeg’s comments to AM 640 radio. “We’ve never run players on their way out and if that’s how he felt, that’s fine. I don’t think that’s accurate, but he’s a good guy and I wish him well.
“When I was a rookie GM in 1992, I asked (Boston’s) Harry Sinden ‘any advice?’ He said when you make a mistake and get a player who is not working out, fix it. Kris just didn’t mesh here, but it was no fault of his.”
Versteeg found the culture shock coming from the Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks to be harder than he thought. A few weeks ago, his sports car had derogatory messages traced in its dust while he was at the MasterCard Centre.
“He was a great guy, my roomate and I wish him all the best in Philly,” Kessel said. “But we have to keep going.”
