Brent Burns is a tremendous puck mover from the back end, he’s a positive possession player and he got better at playing defense as the year went on.
Burns has his critics, that’s fine. Maybe I just don’t have enough anger left after expending so much on Niemi, Wilson and McLellan to attack Burns – or maybe he just transitioned into a competent top four defender by the seasons end.
Burns’ best value to the San Jose Sharks may lie heavily in a trade. Normally you wouldn’t want to ship out a guy like Burns, but his trade value is probably as high as it’s ever been – or ever will be. That’s motive enough for me to consider it, especially when he’s now on the wrong side of 30. Not to mention it would help Doug Wilson's "rebuilding" thoughts that he has occasionally.
He’s a 6’5…, 230lbs, right shot defender who just put up 60 points in 82 games from the back end and has two more seasons at $5.76M per year. That’s an exciting thought for several teams. It’s a great contract with a productive player. If Burns was a free agent this year he’d be breaking the bank.
So aside from Burns having the highest value he’ll ever have he also doesn’t have the power that Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton have. Burns has a limited no-trade clause, which means Doug Wilson can get his targets and start shooting if he wanted to.
Of course trading Burns does leave a big hole on the blueline – the same hole that would be there if the Sharks tried to move the defender back to forward, only without any return for the team. That hole can either be addressed within the trade or during free agency – or maybe Wilson gets real crazy and makes a few trades somehow.
If the Sharks keep Burns they should keep him on defence. He’s not as bad as people pretend he is. Did he struggle at the start of the season? Sure he did, but he was asked to go from a winger with Joe Thornton to the unforgiving world of a defender tasked with playing over 20 minutes a night a year and a half removed from the position. By the end of the season he was a solid top four defender.
What should San Jose do with Burns? Trade, keep on D, move to forward? Have your say. For non-Shark fans, would you want Burns + what would you offer for him?
Thanks for reading.