TAMPA – The last Devils coach to win the Stanley Cup strolled down the hall last night to see his old team again. Pat Burns has always been a strong man, and it looks good on him.
“No change,” said the 56-year-old, enduring his third bout with cancer, without an encouraging prognosis. “Same thing.”
Burns won gold as an assistant coach of Team Canada in the World Championships last year, but lung cancer was even then following liver cancer, which came after he fought off the colon cancer that ended his Devils’ coaching career after the 2004 playoffs.
“I’m not bitter – there’s nothing to be bitter about,” Burns said. “The crying’s all over. My wife and I pretty well have everyone ready.”
Now, significantly lighter but not gaunt, Burns still makes the 190-mile round trip here to scout for the Devils, hanging out with some of the other NHL legends who make Florida their winter home.
“Because I love this game,” Burns said. “I love this team, too.
“I like hanging out with the scouts. Scotty [Bowman] and I usually sit together and change the whole league around, hiring coaches, firing coaches. It keeps me active. I can’t sit still.”
Last night, there was a hug with GM Lou Lamoriello, banter with goalie coach Jacques Caron, and he walked in with assistants John MacLean and Tommy Albelin. Players who’d played for him with the Devils, and elsewhere, called out their best wishes.
Burns coached the Canadiens, Maple Leafs and Bruins, but last night, he declared that the Devils are his team.
“No doubt about it,” Burns said. “The way Lou treats everyone on this club, you hear stories around the league. I’ve been with three [other] teams, not that they were bad, but the Devils are a class organization.”
Burns has shown plenty of that sort of class throughout his career. It’s there now, even when it’s toughest.