D Brent Burns Traded to Carolina Hurricanes

With Tony DeAngelo headed to the Philadelphia Flyers at the NHL Entry Draft, the Carolina Hurricanes were looking for a replacement they didn’t need to extend a long-term offer to at big dollars. There was chatter before free agency opened that they and the Dallas Stars might have been in on Brent Burns from the San Jose Sharks. It was the Hurricanes who put together the better deal.

Pierre LeBrun is reporting the details of the trade are as follows: Brent Burns and Lane Pederson for Steven Lorentz, goalie prospect Eetu Makiniemi and a conditional 2023 3rd-round pick. He adds that the Sharks are retaining 33 percent of Burns’ contract — an $8 million deal for the next three seasons.

Pierre LeBrun also noted before the trade that Burns had a full no-move clause in his deal, but he had three teams he can be dealt to without consent.

Burns, 37, has three years left on his deal and carries an $8 million cap hit. The actual salary owed is much less, paying him only $16.5 million over the last three seasons. He earned a $3.5 million signing bonus that was already paid this summer. He is getting up there in age, but he’s still a useful player. He recorded 54 points last season while still averaging more than 26 minutes a night. He played a shutdown role, but still has the ability a desire to jump in on offense.

Burns is a three-time Norris finalist (and one-time winner). He led all San Jose defenders in scoring with 10 goals and 44 assists in 82 games in 2021-22 while logging a career-high 26:09 per game. This was a salary cap decision move by new GM Mike Grier.

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