The Calgary Flames have egg on their face, a day after president of hockey operations Brian Burke put his foot in his mouth.

Speaking to the public at the Canadian Club of Calgary on Wednesday, Burke essentially threatened that if a new arena isn’t built, the team would leave town. True or not, it was an unnecessary scare tactic that backfired.

The Flames, to their credit, distanced themselves from their free-speaking executive.

“Brian Burke runs Hockey Operations for the Calgary Flames and he and many Calgarians have strong views about this topic,” Flames president and CEO Ken King said in a media release. “However, he is not our spokesperson regarding a new events centre for our city. We remain committed to our dialogue with the City and very optimistic we will get to a positive conclusion. We admire everyone’s enthusiasm on this subject.”

• Burke's comments were as silly as his untied ties - https://dailyhive.com/calgary/flames-arena-comments-brian-burke