Brian Burke would recommend former Flames GM Jay Feaster: 'For any job in hockey'

Calgary Flames president of hockey operations and interim-General Manager Brian Burke appeared on TSN radio 1050 on Thursday evening to discuss his decision to fire deposed Flames General Manager Jay Feaster. 

During the interview Burke discussed the top-to-bottom evaluation process he put the Flames organization through this fall, admitted to several mistakes made during his tenure in Toronto, and gave Feaster a hearty recommendation.

"Jay's a great guy," said Burke. "He's a very devoted family guy, he's bright, he works hard. He did his best to make this combination work. I have no issue telling anyone what a great guy he is and I'd recommend him for any job in hockey anywhere"

Burke also explained how he's spent the past two-and-a-half months evaluating the entire Flames organization, a process Feaster actually contributed to. "I made a recommendation (to ownership)," Burke explained. "And my recommendation was that we would be best served by going outside, rather than extending Jay's contract."

Finally Burke discussed his tenure as Toronto Maple Leafs general manager in the interview, and was critical of several of the decisions he made. "Jesus if someone looked at my record they wouldn't say 'I never made a bad decision', I made a lot of them," the garrulous executive admitted. 

Burke went on to single out the contracts he signed with unrestricted free-agents Francois Beauchemin, Tim Connolly, and Mike Komisarek as examples of some decisions he'd made as Maple Leafs general manager that didn't pan out.