Architect admires his work

Brian Burke insists this won’t be about him. But the fingerprints are all there.

The Ducks’ general manager won’t do anything more than sit in his box high atop the Honda Center when his team takes on the Vancouver Canucks tonight in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals. The game won’t be decided by him.

But the hottest topic Tuesday was not the Ducks’ long layoff or the prospect of facing Roberto Luongo in goal. It was about Burke, a 51-year-old lawyer with a sharp wit and a fascination for military history.

Why the focus on a buttoned-down executive? It’s his current team against his old one and Burke’s impact on both teams is unmistakable -- from his drafting of twins Henrik and Daniel Sedin for the Canucks to signing Scott Niedermayer and trading for Chris Pronger for the Ducks.

As far as taking pride in watching two teams battle each other with his stamp on them, well, there’ll be time for that later.

“I’ll have that discussion with you after the playoffs,” said Burke, who spent part of the day fielding media requests. “To me, our job now is to beat them. I’m not very sentimental about anything but my family.”

Before coming to the Ducks in 2005, Burke spent six years as the Canucks’ general manager, overseeing a franchise that went from 23 wins in 1998-99 to three consecutive 40-win seasons while surpassing 100 points in 2002-03 and 2003-04.

Four of Burke’s Vancouver teams also made the Stanley Cup playoffs and one captured the franchise’s first division title in 11 years. The Canucks also went from $30 million in the red to turning a profit.

But they also never made it out of the second round.

And then he was unceremoniously fired because of what was widely reported as a personality clash between him and Stan McCammon, who was then the chief executive of Orca Bay Sports and Entertainment, which controls the Canucks. McCammon later resigned.

“The first 30 days after you get fired, I think, are the hardest,” Burke said. “You wonder if you’re going to work again. Especially if you get fired from a winning situation. You wonder if you’ll get another chance. [You think] this isn’t fair. You’re riding this rollercoaster of emotions.”

The firing, he said, also affected his wife, Jennifer, who was a news anchor and radio talk-show host in the city. In time, Burke came to a realization.

“You either put it behind you or it consumes you,” he said. “And I just said I’m putting it behind me. We were comfortable and confident that something better would come along. And it did.”

Following a year spent doing television and speaking engagements, Burke found a new challenge in Anaheim, where new owners Henry and Susan Samueli cleaned out much of the Disney regime after the 2004-05 lockout.

Winning has followed. Inheriting a strong nucleus of young players, Burke brought back fan favorite Teemu Selanne and added Niedermayer and Pronger, among others, to fashion the two best regular-season records in the franchise’s 13-year history.

Getting fired isn’t so bad.

“I think some people will say, ‘He’s saying all the politically correct things,’ ” Burke said. “But my wife and I view it as a great break, getting fired in Vancouver. We got to come here. We love it here.

“To work for the Samuelis and Mike Schulman as my boss,” he said, referring the Ducks chief executive, “it’s a totally different situation. It’s been great.”

Burke admitted that he does take some satisfaction in watching the Sedin twins realize the potential he saw in 1999 when he traded up to draft them second and third overall.

Daniel Sedin led the Canucks with 36 goals and 84 points while Henrik Sedin had 81 points, 71 of which came on assists.

“My first reaction is what took them so long,” the general manager joked. “But like I said, I’m not a real sentimental guy except for my family. I’m not interested in the twins having a good series against us.”

There is also the close relationship between Burke and Dave Nonis, who succeeded him as GM in Vancouver.

Burke was the Canucks’ assistant general manager when he first hired Nonis in 1990. A few seasons later, Burke left Vancouver and spent the next five years as the NHL’s chief disciplinarian. When he came to the Canucks as their GM in 1998, he made sure Nonis was there too.

The two talk often, including a brief conversation they had Tuesday morning. This series, Burke said, won’t change the tight connection the two have.

“My older daughter is Dave Nonis’ goddaughter,” Burke said. “This playoff series isn’t going to affect that relationship. We’ve been friends for 20 years now.”

Earlier in the day, Nonis told Vancouver reporters, “There is no matchup against Brian Burke. There is a matchup against a team that’s a very good hockey club.”

The connection with the Canucks also extends to Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle. Carlyle coached the Canucks’ American Hockey League team, the Manitoba Moose, before Burke lured him away to Anaheim for his first NHL head coaching job.

“It’s special from the standpoint that I worked for that hockey club,” Carlyle said. “Now I look at it as they gave me an opportunity to hone whatever skills I do have to earn an opportunity to coach in the league. And I owe them that.”

As far as the players, the Ducks’ focus is now on the opponent finally in front of them six days after finishing off the Minnesota Wild in the opening round.

“We’ve put that first series behind us,” Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf said. “It doesn’t mean anything now. We’re just going to get ready for Game 1.”

Burke has also moved on. In his own way.

“All the people that gassed me are gone,” he said of the Canucks. “There’s no bitterness that way.”

eric.stephens@latimes.com