11:55am: The deal is now complete, according to LeBrun. The Hurricanes will receive Burns and Lane Pederson in exchange for Steven Lorentz, Eetu Makiniemi, and a conditional 2023 third-round pick. The Sharks will retain one-third of Burns’ remaining contract.
10:30am: While Carolina moved a notable defenseman at the draft when they sent Anthony DeAngelo to Philadelphia, it appears they’ve found his replacement. Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the Hurricanes are close to acquiring Brent Burns from San Jose. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman adds (Twitter link) that Carolina isn’t on Burns’ three-team trade list but it appears he’ll be willing to waive his trade protection to facilitate a move. LeBrun adds (via Twitter) that multiple players are involved in the swap.
Burns has been a staple on the back end for the Sharks for more than a decade as an all-situations defender that logs heavy minutes. A three-time Norris finalist (and one-time winner), the 37-year-old is coming off a pretty strong season as 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.
The reason that San Jose is moving him is his contract. Burns still has three years left on his contract with a cap hit of $8MM and with the Sharks not having a lot of financial flexibility, it was expected that they’d try to move one of their three pricey veterans on the back end. With both Erik Karlsson and Marc-Edouard Vlasic coming off tough seasons that have them on negative-value contracts, Burns was the logical one to try to move.
With Carolina, Burns shouldn’t be counted on to log anywhere near the type of minutes he did in San Jose with the Hurricanes and he could fit in nicely on their second pairing behind Brett Pesce. He would certainly help replace the minutes that DeAngelo logged last season while being able to help cover the offensive gap left behind as well.
More to follow.