It’s been a few years since Brent Burns played meaningful hockey past April. The San Jose Sharks traded Burns in the summer to the Carolina Hurricanes. Carolina provides Burns with another chance to experience playoff hockey. But for Carolina and Burns, the benefits are a two-way street.
Brent Burns Providing a Boost to the Carolina Hurricanes in the Playoffs
Carolina was in need of a top-pairing offensive defenceman after failing to reach an agreement for an extension with Anthony DeAngelo this past offseason. This came after top pairing defenceman Dougie Hamilton left the year before in free agency to sign with the New Jersey Devils. Instead of signing a free agent like John Klingberg, the Hurricanes made a trade for veteran defenceman Brent Burns. And the Hurricanes got what they were looking for and more. Both in the regular season and the playoffs.
The Trip to Carolina
Almost as soon as Burns found out he was traded to Carolina, he made his way across the country to start working out with head coach Rod Brind’Amour. While it was bittersweet to leave the Sharks, Burns was excited to join the Hurricanes and had that nervous energy again playing with a new team.
Drafted by the Minnesota Wild in the first round of the 2003 NHL Draft, Burns is a six-foot five inch, two hundred and thirty pounds offensive defenceman. Over his career, he has scored 245 goals and 593 assists and won the Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenceman in the 2016-17 season. He is known for his versatility as he started out playing both forward and defence. However, at 38 years old, his ironman ability also stands out. While he may be slightly past his prime playing ability, his relentless work ethic and top physical shape makes him a force on the ice and a top pairing defenceman.
Burns Settling in on the Top Pair
This season in Carolina, Burns stepped right in beside defensive defenceman Jaccob Slavin on the team’s top defensive pair. With Slavin’s elite defensive ability, Burns utilized his skating and offensive ability more freely. In doing so, he broke a Hurricanes record for points by a defenceman after getting 18 goals and 43 assists for 61 points in 82 games.
After Shayne Gotisbehere, Burns was second on the team in expected goals and goals scored above expected. Likewise, he was second in Corsi and Fenwick while having 2.73 expected goals against. Where Burns really stood head and shoulders above the rest though was his on-ice goal differential at 34 and on-ice expected goals differential at 43.9. He averaged 23.2 minutes per game of ice time and played in all situations. This included quarterbacking the first power play unit and killing penalties. While Hamilton was extremely productive offensively for New Jersey, Burns provided the Hurricanes with both the offence and all-around play they needed during the regular season.
Production in the Playoffs
This postseason, the Hurricanes are largely finding their strength in their team game. Jordan Martinook had an outstanding round two but no one player has consistently been carrying the team all playoffs. With that said, Brent Burns’ playoffs production has been a huge boost to the Hurricanes. Carrying over from the regular season, Burns leads all Hurricanes defencemen in points and assists and is tied for the lead in goals. His goal differential is second only to Slavin. He also leads in expected goals with 1.2, expected goals percentage, expected goal differential and Fenwick. Burns’ high Fenwick score is notable as it shows his unique ability to find a way to get shots through and on the net.
For all defencemen in the playoffs, Burns is in the top ten for goals, assists and points. He is fourth in expected goals and expected goal differential and top ten in Fenwick and expected goals percentage. Essentially, when it comes to defencemen generating offense in the playoffs, Burns is at the top. While Burns’ offensive numbers paint one side of the picture, even his expected goals against has him in the top 20 while his goal differential puts him at fifth.
The advanced metrics show the same for the Burns Slavin pairing through 11 playoff games as they rank near the top for goals percentage, Fenwick, and xGoals % amongst defensive pairs playing at least 100 minutes this postseason. Much has been said about the impressive play of Slavin, but the addition of Burns has bumped the top pairing’s production from last postseason to this. In all of these categories mentioned above, the pairing of Slavin-Burns in 11 games has exceeded last year’s top pairing of Slavin-DeAngelo in 14 games. As much as Slavin allows Burns to play a more freewheeling game, the metrics show Burns’ playoff production has benefited Slavin as well.
Burns’ Off-Ice Intangibles Providing an X Factor in the Playoffs
The statistics are important to quantify most of the conclusions regarding Burns’ playoff play. But to look beyond the production, Burns brings the Hurricanes a certain element that is hard to replicate. Burns is a colorful character. He is a giant defenceman with a large beard, tatoos and some missing teeth. His backpack is always ready to go with an assortment of random items. But more notably he always has a smile on his face. He seems to love life and that shows in his game play.
At 38 years old, he is a mentor to not only the younger players, but most of the team. Leading by example by being a workhorse in the gym and on the ice, age is just a number to Burns. He also consistently has teammates over for barbeques and has acclimated to life in Raleigh as his kid plays youth hockey with Brind’Amour’s and ex-Hurricane Justin Williams‘ kids.
These intangibles are character traits that you cannot quantify in a trade value. But they are just as, if not more, important than how many goals he can score. For a team with high playoff expectations but significant injuries, it takes more than a stat sheet to overcome that adversity. The Hurricanes team game has shined in the playoffs so far but that does not happen without players like Burns providing some glue. Brind’Amour has repeatedly stated how fantastic Burns has been this year. Not only as a player but as a person.
Burns on the Ice is Exciting as Off the Ice
Meanwhile, watching Burns on the ice is also a treat. To start with his skating, he is deceptively good to be so large. Defensively he uses his big frame and large reach to break players off the puck. He is not afraid to use his size to push players around and throw some hits. Many times, he is skating backwards with a forward quickly approaching. It looks the forward is about to beat him, but he somehow turns around to break up the play.
Then take a look at Burns running the point in the offensive zone. He walks the blueline as well as almost any defenceman right now not named Cale Makar. He then finds an opening to boom his monster shot through, either finding the back of the net or getting a tip or rebound. But let’s say not much is happening from the point. Then you see Burns turn on the jets and put his hands in motion. The six foot five defenceman dangles his way to the net and drives in to slide the puck into the net or make a play. Burns creates significant challenges for other teams to analyze how to handle him.
Brent Burns Versatility a Game Changer for Carolina
As the stats and narrative show, Burns is not simply a one-dimensional player. While he is more offensive in nature, he is good in all three zones. Burns can produce on the power play and kill penalties. He can break up a play and move the puck quickly in transition. He can score from the point and deke his way past the goalie. The Hurricanes only gave up forward Steven Lorentz, goalie prospect Eetu Makiniemi, and a third-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft to receive Burns. San Jose also retained part of his salary in that trade. This has been a home run acquisition for Carolina. The Hurricanes are a team looking to bind together and keep pushing for the Stanely Cup. Burns provides an electric, multi-dimensional player to Carolina that could be a significant piece to the puzzle missing last year.
Main Photo: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports
