Recent comments by Brian Burke indicate his hiring will mean a rebuild in Pittsburgh

The Pittsburgh Penguins shocked the hockey world Tuesday while naming a new general manager, as well as a new President of Hockey Operations. Ron Hextall's hiring as GM was not that shocking as his name had been rumoured as a front runner for the position for days. However, the announcement that Brian Burke has been hired as President of Hockey Operations was certainly surprising as there had been no previous mention that he was even in the running.

A President of Hockey Operations is a fairly new position to the hockey world and the person in that position is usually a GM's right-hand man. As described by the Ottawa Sun when the Sens were recently looking for one, a hockey ops president serves "as a sounding board, a voice of sober second thought, an experienced hockey mind that understands the current climate of the NHL." So what does Burke's hiring mean for the Pens? The former NHL GM and Sportsnet analyst appeared on Spittin' Chiclets back in November and made it clear he doesn't believe Pittsburgh can compete any more.

Burke described the Pens as being in a similar position to the Chicago Blackhawks - which is fitting given the similar levels of success both teams have experienced over the last 10-12 season. Each team has won three Stanley Cup championships over that span, but are both beginning to decline due to an ageing core and not enough young skill to compensate.

Burke suggested that the Pens are, much like the Hawks, set on holding on to their ageing elite talent in an attempt to remain competitive, despite being overdue for a total rebuild, what with everyone around them improving steadily. The cycle of an accomplished hockey club - from bottom-feeder to elite hockey club, to sliding into mediocrity and back to bottom-feeder.

"It is the same thing [now former Pens GM] Jimmy Rutherford is saying in Pittsburgh 'I've got two elite players we're not going to a total rebuild were gonna try and win.' I don't think Pittsburgh is good enough to win," said Burke. No matter what they do now with their cap situation I think that window has closed, for me. I love Jimmy Rutherford you know that, but I look in the East and I say are they better than Tampa? Nope. Are they better than Washington? Nope. Are they better than Boston? Nope."

So, if Burke is to serve as a sounding board for Hextall, and a voice of sober second thought, if he still feels this way - and considering it was less than four months ago that seems completely plausible - it appears he'll be pushing for a rebuild in Pittsburgh, which will mean the end for Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. It's also worth noting that when Hextall took over as GM of the Philadelphia Flyers, one of his first objectives was to ship out aging veterans in favour of younger players. Those names included Kimmo Timmonen, Brayden Coburn, Vincent Lecavalier and Chris Pronger.

Burke appeared before the media Tuesday to answer questions about his new position and, of course, his previous comments were brought up. Burke insisted he would not back away from the comments he made on Spittin' Chiclets, but added "when you have pieces like we have here, you've got to try and win."

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