Sharks defenseman Burns enjoying MVP-type season
Brent Burns’ Civil War re-enactor beard, multiple tattoos and free-spirited personality sometime make his NHL dominance hard to recognize.
He’s such an engaging character, overflowing with impishness and charisma, that it has been easy to overlook that he has become one of the top differencemakers. But that has changed this season, because Burns, 32, is having one of the best seasons by a defenseman in NHL history.
With just less than a month to go in the regular season, Burns is the favorite to win the Hart Trophy as league MVP and the Norris Trophy as its top defenseman.
If Burns accomplishes that rare double, he would be the first defenseman to win both since Chris Pronger did it in 2000. Before then, incomparable Bobby Orr was the last to do it. He won the Hart three seasons in a row from 1970 to 1972.
Burns has been the league’s most impressive player, scoring 27 goals with 43 assists in 69 games. He is six points away from the scoring lead and has been the best player on a contending San Jose Sharks team.
The Sharks entered Wednesday 13th in scoring with 192 goals. They would not be sixth in the league in points without Burns, who is one of four Sharks with more than 20 goals.
Burns owns 20 even-strength goals, the same number as Connor McDavid and six fewer than Auston Matthews and Michael Grabner, who share the league lead. Burns has 11 more goals than the next defenseman, the Montreal Canadiens’ Shea Weber.
The Sharks defenseman ranks 54th in points per 60 minutes at five-on-five play, according to Stats.hockeyanalysis.com, at 2.10, a mark that is 0.51 points higher than the No. 2 defenseman, the Calgary Flames’ Dougie Hamilton.
Burns leads forwards and defensemen with 272 shots on goal, and his shots are primarily industrial-strength blasts. According to Corsica.hockey, he has attempted 446 shots, which is 140 more than Montreal’s Max Pacioretty, who is second. The No. 2 defenseman is the Ottawa Senators’ Erik Karlsson at 290 attempts.
According to Corsica.hockey, Burns has a Corsi of 53.4, 4.18% better than the Sharks on a whole.
At one point in his career, Burns was considered a defensive liability to the extent that former Sharks coach Todd McLellan preferred him at forward. Current Sharks coach Peter DeBoer decided immediately that he wanted him at defenseman.
Today, it’s clear that Burns’ willingness and ability to lead a cavalry-like charge into the offense zone makes the Sharks more dangerous. He’s 6-5, 230 pounds, but he skates impressively.
When Burns is on the ice, the Sharks always seem to have the puck. That’s another form of defense.
Considering how challenging it is to score in this era, Burns’ 27 goals represent an amazing season by a defenseman.
All of this explains why Burns is the favorite to win the Hart Trophy. It also might help Burns that Patrick Kane, who leads the league with 76 points, Sidney Crosby and McDavid will steal votes from each other. It’s such a wide-open race that it will help Burns. The notoriety of a defenseman being in contention also strengthens Burns’ candidacy.
When Pronger was selected MVP in 2000, it was because he always was in charge when he was on the ice. Everyone was talking about Pronger that season. The same can be said of Burns now.