We Got Our D-Man
June 24th, 2011, 7:32 pm
No Tooth. No Shirt. No Problem. I'm Brent Burns baby.
Really quick post. We’ll have more coverage on the podcast next week.
As we do every late-June, Mike and I sit around and watch the NHL Draft and lament how nothing happens for San Jose. There have been some big moves in the last 24 hours and the Sharks just joined the party in a major way. San Jose landed a legitimate top pairing d-man in Brent Burns and a 2012 2nd rounder from Minnesota for Devin Setoguchi, top prospect Charlie Coyle and our 2011 1st round draft pick. A heavy price to pay, but think about it this way, the Sharks just got a player in Burns who led their team in time on ice, 2nd in PK time and 2nd in PP time. He is 6’5, hits, blocks shots and had 46 points last year with 17 goals. If Burns were a UFA on July 1st, he would have been the top rated defensemen on the market, in the Dudes’ opinions.
It should be noted that Todd McLellan coached Burns in the AHL in 2004-05, so he’s clearly familiar with the player and what he can offer. We’ve been begging for a partner for Boyle and we finally got him. It should be noted that with Burns on the team, the Sharks still have 9.5M in cap space (including the bonus cushion) and that’s plenty of room to add two quality 3rd line players on the UFA market, a position that Doug Wilson could be competitive in. I think it’s not too far fetched to expect Doug Wilson to be a major player on July 1st for impact 3rd line players like Maxim Talbot, Pascal Dupuis, Marty Reasoner, Scottie Upshall, Eric Belanger, Vernon Fiddler, or John Madden. Form a legit 3rd line that can take our top players to the next level, battle and do the dirty work while chipping in some key goals.
It’s a high price to pay but this could be a big first step for the Sharks 2011-12 run for the Stanley Cup. I’m riding the high. We got a #1 d-man for a 40 point forward, a really good college forward and an unknown prospect.
Have a beer on me. Brent Burns is a Shark kids.
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I think we still need a strong defensive guy (like a Regehr)
I don’t know if Burns is the answer but for the steep price that the Sharks paid, I would expect Shea Webber or Big Buff.
Shea Weber should be closer to Chris Pronger value than Brent Burns, and Chris Pronger went to Philly for WAY more than what the Sharks gave up.
I have to disagree. Weber is on another stratum than Burns. Weber is in the very top echelon of defensemen in the NHL, with Chara, Lidstrom, and Keith. IMHO Burns is near that, but not quite there.
If I were David Poile, I would not nearly settle for a on-again, off-again foward, a prospect, and a 1st. I would want a top level NHL scorer. I would want Patrick Marleau or Logan Couture. Plus the 1st.
I agree with you Mike. Burns is very close, and could very well make that jump in the next year or two, but Weber IMO is the dman you pick if you are starting a new franchise today. Any package not including Logan Couture would not be acceptable.
Remember when the poll question was “Would you trade Joe Pavelski straight up for Shea Weber?” and it was a split decision here?
Do not want Regehr. Burn’s scored more points and had 5 less goals than Seto this is so full of win.
Not saying Regehr instead of Burns, I’m talking in addition to Burns.
He’s got a 4mil caphit, Burns is only 26 and is probably going to be looking for a significant pay increase. So if the Sharks sign him and they’d better with what they gave up I can’t imagine there would be any room left over for Regehr especially with the holes in the bottom nine.
I think the price was pretty steep with one year left on his deal if the Sharks don’t get him inked to a new deal before he goes UFA this is nothing short of a disaster but that’s really the only concern I have with this deal.
Agreed mostly. Not a total disaster if he walks after we win the cup though. But yeah, I think time can only judge this deal.
If he resigns or we win – awesome.
If Seto and Charlie Coyle turn into studs for Minn AND Burns walks after getting bounced in the Conference Finals again – brutal.
DW is going all in either way.
Yeah I should have added that in my original post obviously a Cup in San Jose and its a win because in the end that’s all that matters. We appear to be in complete agreement.
Holy Cow! Excited to see Burns in Teal. This is great news. As long as Burns can stay healthy & Wilson inks him within’ the coming months, this will be a good move.
this trade makes perfect sense to me. obvious questions about concussions and re-signing still linger, but of course i’m willing to give it a chance.
some are sayin’ SJ got the short end of this one, but i believe Seto was on his way out one way or the other. too inconsistent. too one-dimensional. perfect trade bait. there was never any intent to keep him here for next season, imo.
DW declines the sign and trade, but i’m not buyin’ it.
@MJ ~ I agree w/ u’r assessment regarding the ‘sign and trade’. Seto had been “on the block” for a number of months now. After signing his extension on on Thurs., it was probably 50/50 that DS would skate on San Jose ice in 2011 – ’12.
I also agree w/ the notion, that this trade becomes ‘a wash’ if Burns is not signed to an extension of his own. Then again, if we when The Cup next season, it become more forgivable to allow him to walk. But that is a BIG ‘IF’.
Seto re-signing for £3m a year seemed to me to be the high price & that DW had gone even further down the route of spending too much on too many top 6 forwards & not leaving enough cap space for a new D-man… This trade addresses both.
It makes the team more balanced.
I like it.
Holy crap. I go on a trip for a week and all hell breaks loose!
I was listening to last weeks podcast driving through the mountains, knowing Seto had been traded, and hearing the Dudes process the new deal for him… Interesting. Nice call on the possible sign and trade.
And I guess we figured out what DW wants – at least in part. Though I’d still like to see our third line produce pts.
I have to say I’m a little surprised that White isn’t coming back. Definitely not about Nichol and Mayers though. I don’t think Demers or Braun replace what White provided, not like the way Desjardin did with Nichol… Oh well. Isn’t Joni Pikanen essentially the same player as Ian White though?
Commenting on my own post here… But what ever happened to just “stocking the cupboard”? If a young talented D-man actually wants to play here like Whte – why NOT keep him? We should realize that in the third and fourth rounds if the playoffs we need as many healthy bodies as possible.
I just don’t get letting a guy like White walk unless he wants too much money.
I think that is going to be the case , though. I’m sure DW looked at White, saw a price tag between $3.5-4mil a year, and decided to move on. And I can’t say that isn’t the right choice.
I also think that the sharks should keep white for anything less then 3.5M
Having 7 D-men isnt anything that I would have a problem with. We will probably need that sooner or later anyway.
I think the selling point here with White could be the playoffs. Last year was his first run and knowing how much players want to win, I know who I’d want to play for.
Although, I bet Detroit would pay him. 🙁
I may be the only one that isn’t shook up about losing Coyle. It’s not because I don’t think he is going to be a good player (wouldn’t be surprised to see him turn into a poor man’s Joe Pavelski), but he was not going to contribute in the window that this team has to 2013-14. And DW certainly has the draft history to suggest that he can restock the cupboards in the next 2-3 drafts before the roster apocalypse of 2014.