The Penguins are the sixth NHL club to find a spot for Brian Burke on its management team.
That means Burke has spent a lot of years laboring in front offices across North America.
And, in the process, collected more team-issued golf shirts, workout clothes and other apparel and paraphernalia than he could ever hope to use.
"Each year at the start of the year, you get a bag with some golf shirts in it, some workout gear, a couple of warm tops because in practice rinks, you have to wear something warm," Burke said.
So he has, at various points in his career, received copious amounts of stuff emblazoned with the logo of the Canucks, Whalers, Ducks, Flames and Maple Leafs.
Virtually none of which he still owns, except for what he got upon being named president of hockey operations for the Penguins in February.
"Once you go to work for another team, you instantly get rid of anything that has your old logo on it," he said. "But it's done respectfully. You would never throw that stuff away. You give it away.
"I remember that when I left Vancouver to go to Hartford, I had a closet full of Vancouver Canucks stuff. You're not going to throw out anything that has the Vancouver Canucks logo on it. You're just not going to do that. Some of the old workout stuff, you give back to the trainer. The golf shirts and the nice jackets -- you get a lot of stuff when you work for a team -- that was given away to people who have my size. Now, I wear a (size XXL), so it was hard to find a partner for some of my stuff, but I did.
"No one would ever throw that stuff out. It's treated with reverence, but it's gone. Once you leave the Toronto Maple Leafs and go to the Calgary Flames, you're not wearing any Leafs stuff. God help you if you did. The guys (on your new team) would kill you."
There are, however, a few exceptions.
Burke, for example, holds onto clothing he's been given through his involvement with USA Hockey.
"The stuff that I never gave away -- the stuff I still have because it's special -- is the stuff from the U.S. national teams or Olympic teams," he said. "You wear that USA Hockey stuff. You don't give that away. I've got a closet full of that stuff."
Oh, and there's one NHL-issue item that he's retained for quite a while, too.
"I still have one pair of sweatpants that I kept from when I worked for the Whalers," he said. "I never wear them when anyone could see them. I just wear them at night."
Burke's passion for his work and fiercely competitive -- even combative -- nature have been evident for decades, and that intensity carries over to his feelings about clothing that comes from the club for which he happens to be working.
"You put it on with great pride," he said. "My first day here in Pittsburgh, (equipment manager Jon Taglianetti) left me a bag of golf shirts, and I put one on as soon as I got to the rink, switched over and put on a Pittsburgh Penguins golf shirt. And I remember that I did the same thing everywhere else I worked."
MORE PENGUINS
• It was something of a surprise when Arizona didn't renew the contract of coach Rick Tocchet, who earned three Stanley Cup rings with the Penguins as a right winger and assistant coach, after last season. And unless the Coyotes' objective in cutting ties to him was to maximize their chances of being able to draft top prospect Shane Wright in 2022, the move didn't work out so well, considering that Arizona went 0-10-1 before getting a victory against Seattle, an expansion team. Tocchet has moved on to a position with Turner Sports, but it's safe to assume he would like to get back behind an NHL bench. His ability to relate to players -- remember how he was able to connect with Phil Kessel in a way no other coach has? -- would seem to make him an ideal fit in Florida, where the Panthers have an uber-talented collection of young personnel, but have stumbled a bit since Joel Quenneville resigned as coach Oct. 28 because of his ties to the sex scandal in Chicago when he coached there. After starting 7-0 under Quenneville, Florida is 3-2-2 in its first seven games under interim coach Andrew Brunette. Tocchet never has had the opportunity to coach a team for a franchise that wasn't dysfunctional -- his first chance to run a bench was in Tampa, in the pre-Jeffrey Vinik days -- and now that the Panthers seem ready to make the transition from longtime punchline to legitimate contender, Tocchet might well be the guy who could help them on the climb. -- Dave Molinari
• You know how good the Penguins' penalty-killing has been this season? And how bad they've been at protecting leads late in the third period of close games? Actually, the disparity in how they've fared in those situations might be even more pronounced than you think. Through 12 games, the Penguins have allowed twice as many goals (4) in 5-on-6 situations, after opponents had replaced their goalie with an extra attacker late in regulation, as they have in 4-on-5 and 3-on-5 situations, which are conventional one- or two-man shorthanded situations. The Penguins have allowed the fewest man-advantage goals in the NHL -- no fewer than six clubs have allowed at least as many shorthanded goals as the Penguins yielded when down a man -- while the Penguins have given up the most in the league after the other team pulled its goalie. -- Molinari
STEELERS
• With James Conner leading the NFL in touchdowns with 11 touchdowns for the Cardinals, many fans are having seller's remorse when it comes to the Steelers allowing him to leave via free agency. But while Conner is scoring touchdowns at a ridiculous pace, he's still averaging just 3.9 yards per carry. That Conner has stayed healthy for the Cardinals is good for him. He signed a one-year, $1.75-million contract with the Cardinals that was essentially a prove-it deal. After all, Conner is a former Pro Bowl running back. But his injury history is extensive. Now, with Chase Edmunds out for at least a few games with a high ankle sprain, more of the load will fall on Conner, who is coming off a 26-touch game for the Cardinals last week after Edmunds was injured. Would it have been nice to bring Conner back as a backup to Najee Harris? In a vacuum, sure. In fact, I advocated for the Steelers to at least explore doing that. But, as often happens with players who were starters for a team, Conner didn't want to return to the Steelers in a lesser role. And the Steelers had seen enough of Conner that they didn't want him in a role where he would counted on for regular carries. They had been burned by that in the past. So they agreed to part ways. -- Dale Lolley on the South Side
• Pat Freiermuth was so intent on impressing Heath Miller in Monday night's game against the Bears that he went out and had his best game as a pro, catching five passes for 43 yards and two touchdowns. Miller was in attendance at the game working for a local TV station and met with Freiermuth prior to the game. In the fourth quarter, the rookie tight end approached Ben Roethlisberger, Miller's longtime roommate and teammate when the tight end was still playing, and asked a favor. "Pat came up to me in the fourth quarter and asked if I could ask Heath to come to every game," Roethlisberger said. "He’s trying to impress Heath. We’ll take it." -- Lolley
• Mike Tomlin said two weeks ago he spent the bye week looking at NFL trends, specifically mentioning doing some research into how mobile quarterbacks are affecting the game. "I spent a portion of my day last week looking at quarterback mobility and its impact in situational ball: possession downplay, red zone, etc., etc., as a trend, for example," Tomlin said. Then, this past week, after the Steelers played the Bears with quarterback Justin Fields, Tomlin again brought up the subject of quarterback mobility, talking about how Fields had hurt the Steelers with some designed quarterback runs. When the Steelers go looking for a replacement for Roethlisberger after this season, you can bet that while mobility won't be the lone factor for which they're looking, but it will most definitely be a determining factor. The Steelers loved Fields in this year's draft. In fact, I'm told they had him as their No. 1 quarterback. Yes, ahead of Trevor Lawrence. -- Lolley
PIRATES
• The Bryan Reynolds trade rumor season got kicked off earlier than usual at the general manager meetings this week, with the Yankees and Mariners being among the teams with reported early interest. Meanwhile, I was told the Braves -- who won their World Series in large part due to their reworked outfield they traded for at the deadline -- discussed a potential trade in July to make Reynolds the center of that midseason rebuild, but nothing came from it. Just to reiterate, the feeling on the Pirates’ side is they have to do their due diligence by listening to other clubs who call about Reynolds, but they aren’t interested in dealing him yet unless the return is massive. -- Alex Stumpf
• The Pirates selected the contract of infielder Diego Castillo this week shortly before he was set to become a minor-league free agent. One half of the return in the Clay Holmes deadline trade, Castillo has always had good bat-to-ball skills, but finally started to drive the ball in 2021. While he could probably use some more time with Class AAA Indianapolis, he could be in the mix for an opening day job this spring, especially since the middle infield jobs look wide open. -- Stumpf
• While Castillo had his contract selected, adding to him the 40-man roster, Yerry De Los Santos, a right-handed reliever, passed on free agency by signing a minor-league contract with the Pirates. He needs to be added to the roster by Nov. 19 or he will be eligible for the Rule 5 draft, which raises a curious point of why he didn’t get added to the roster like Castillo. He can still have his contract selected and be saved, but it doesn’t make sense why De Los Santos would sign with the Pirates just to potentially be poached by a team out of his control. The 23-year-old was limited to just 23 ⅔ innings between Altoona and Indianapolis, striking out 25 while showing a plus fastball and slider. He’s had control issues in the past, but he walked just seven this year. -- Stumpf