(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

Brent Burns is an elite offensive defenseman, arguably one of the best in the entire NHL. He’s the 2016-17 Norris Trophy winner, he’s a six-time All Star, and he’s tallied at least 60 points five different seasons in the NHL. He’s also the point leader for the Sharks heading into the playoffs, the only defenseman with such distinction. All of these accolades (and the beard) tend to leave the hockey world enamored with the 6’5″ 230-pound goliath of a defenseman.

However, when you actually watch Brent Burns play, it’s not all rosy, and when you watch him play against the Golden Knights, it’s nothing short of dreadful.

There’s only one way to illustrate what I’m talking about because most of the issues come when Burns is away from the puck and that’s through video. When he has the puck, in any of the three zones, he’s usually good with it. He has a strong stick, he normally makes good decisions with the puck, and he’s an elite skater for his size when he’s skating forward.

But, when you watch what he does away from the puck, or what happens when he has to retreat into his own zone, or his positioning when the puck is turned over, you’ll start to see why he’s a liability against a team like Vegas.

Let’s start with a few videos, the tamer ones first.

In all three cases, the Golden Knights fired stretch passes directly aimed at Burns. Each time the Golden Knights ended up on the puck and they created a chance out of each of them. None of these resulted in goals, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t affect the game.

Because Burns is so offensively focused, he’s often caught too far up in the neutral zone and Vegas seems to seek it out. This is a key to how the Golden Knights like to play, and Burns plays right into it. Vegas is at its best when they are playing quickly and when they transition through the neutral zone with one pass. In all three plays shown, Burns aids that process.

Now let’s move on to another major issue Burns has when he plays against Vegas, getting caught on the wrong side of the puck. As a defenseman, it’s crucial that when a puck is turned over that you are closer to your goal than the puck is. Otherwise, it leads to odd-man rushes and/or forwards getting caught playing as defensemen. Here are two such instances, both from the same game, both that lead to Golden Knights goals.

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Let’s go with something vague so Burns gets mad. (Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

It was clear Sharks defenseman Brent Burns wasn’t in the mood to speak with the media after Friday’s overtime loss. In San Jose’s locker room, Logan Couture spoke first while he ate a slice of pizza. Sans pizza, Tomas Hertl and Joonas Donskoi held quick media scrums of their own after Couture finished. Heck, even Joe Thornton poked his head in after finding his teeth.

I just overheard an equipment manager in the SJS locker room say “Hang on, I got Jumbo’s teeth.”

— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) November 25, 2017

The three San Jose players that spoke after the game were still wearing Sharks t-shirts and shorts. Burns came out showered, dressed and ready to hit the bus. It was clear by his demeanor the defenseman was upset. What might’ve set off Chewbacca was a 3rd period overturned goal that would’ve put the Sharks up 5-4. I asked Burns if he would talk about the overturned goal, and immediately you could feel his beard burning up.

No, not really. It is what it is. -Brent Burns, Sharks defenseman

Burns was upset with the overturned goal in Vegas, but it seemed like built up frustration from previous games.

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