
Dennis Wierzbicki/USA TODAY Sports
There may not be enough soap in the Lush warehouse to successfully clean out the mouth of Vancouver Canucks forward Alex Burrows.
Burrows is one of the NHL’s most relentless motormouths, and his jabs have been creative and extreme over the years – just ask Mike Richards or Phil Kessel. Recently though, the Canucks agitator’s habit of trash talking opponents has generated headlines and controversy rather than the usual guffaws.
In a game this past weekend, New Jersey Devils tough guy Jordin Tootoo publicly accused Burrows of crossing the line. It was reported this week that Burrows will have a meeting with the league on Friday to discuss the incident.
On Thursday, Canucks general manager Jim Benning addressed the issue during an appearance on TSN 1200 radio in Ottawa. In addition to disputing the idea that Burrows is facing some sort of formal disciplinary tribunal, Benning suggested that he expects the conversation between the league offices and the Canucks’ sharp-tongued two-way winger to result in nothing more than a reminder.
“I haven’t heard it’s a meeting,” Benning said of the anticipated conversation between Burrows and the NHL. “I think they were just going to give him a call and talk to him on the phone. I think basically all they’re going to tell him is that, y’know, in the heat of a battle, things get said, when you’re playing against opponents. You get hit, and they call you a name and you call them a name back.
“And I think the NHL just wants to remind these guys that there’s microphones everywhere now and make sure you’re careful about what you say in the heat of the battle. So you’re not embarrassed by it if it’s picked up by a microphone.”
burrows will be talking to the league via phone call re: tootoo. not facing supplemental discipline for his on-ice comments
— Jason Botchford (@botchford) November 12, 2015
Though he’s often in the thick of controversy, Burrows has been suspended only one time in his NHL career (though he’s been fined several times more). Based on what Canucks management expects of Burrows’ upcoming conversation with the league, it seems unlikely that he’ll be suspended for his latest high-profile dust up.