Transferring to the newly formed New York franchise, Burch served as the team's captain, scored the first goal in Americans' history in 1925 and won the Lady Byng Trophy in 1926–27 as the NHL's most gentlemanly player.

Burch was born on November 20, 1900, in Yonkers, New York, but moved to Toronto at a young age and grew up in the Ontario capital as a multi-sport athlete playing lacrosse, football and hockey.

[2] That same year he was a teammate of Lionel Conacher and Roy Worters with the Toronto Canoe Club Paddlers hockey team which won the 1920 Memorial Cup as the Dominion champions of Canada.

[6] In protest, the players demanded that the team and league pay each individual $200 for the additional regular season and playoff games, or they would refuse to play the NHL championship series.

He again finished eighth in scoring, with 27 points, in 1926–27,[4] and was voted the winner of the Lady Byng Trophy, awarded for his "effectiveness and a true sporting spirit".

[11] Burch scored 11 goals and 16 points for New York and played the only two playoff games of his NHL career after the team improved to a second-place finish.

[3] However, he did not see much playing time in Boston in the first part of the season and on January 17, 1933, was traded to the Chicago Black Hawks in exchange for Vic Ripley.