Brent Burns

This Season So Far

The 2022-23 season has not started. The empty row above is his, and both it and this paragraph fill in on their own from the morning after he first plays: what he has done, what it is worth against his own last season, and the run he is on when the two disagree.

Last Season

With San Jose. 10 goals and 44 assists in all 82 games — 54 points at 26:09 a night, minus-15, with 4 power-play goals on 203 shots and 42 penalty minutes.

Twenty-six minutes and nine seconds a night is the 99th percentile among the league’s defencemen, at thirty-six years old, and 3.73 miles a game is the most of any skater this book tracks. Nobody in hockey was asked for more or covered more ground doing it.

46.8 per cent of the expected goals at five-on-five over 1,622 minutes, the 29th percentile. His ice went 67-66 against an expectation of 60.65-68.91 — six goals of scoring above the chances and three fewer conceded than they predicted. San Jose finished 25th in the league, and 1,622 minutes of it went through him.

The Finesse Game

203 attempts at a median of 54 feet — the 91st percentile for distance — with 7 per cent from inside the slot, the 20th — off a 94.6 mph release. Ten goals at 4.9 per cent.

550 assists in 1,251 games, and 1.90 takeaways per 60 is the 96th percentile among defencemen. The puck comes back to him and it leaves going forward, and forty-four assists at thirty-six is the argument that the hands are the last thing to go.

2.71 giveaways per 60 is among the highest figures at the position, and always has been. He tries the pass and a share of the time it is intercepted at his own line.

The Physical Game

6-5 and 228, and 1.54 hits per 60 is the 7th percentile among defencemen. He has never defended with his body and he is not starting at thirty-seven. 4.20 blocks per 60 at the 52nd is ordinary.

Top speed 21.8 mph is the 25th percentile and 0.7 bursts above 20 mph a game is the 32nd — the ground covered is a function of never leaving the ice rather than of speed.

The Intangibles

Twentieth overall in 2003 by Minnesota, a Norris Trophy at thirty-two, 777 points in 1,251 games, and eleven seasons in San Jose.

He is 37, and Carolina traded for him in July with three years left on the contract. A club that allowed fewer goals than anybody in the league has just added a defenceman who does not defend, to a blue line where Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce and Brady Skjei already do — which is exactly the point: Carolina is buying the 44 assists and can afford to hide the rest.