It’s quite something to be an NHLer who has played 1,500 games. It’s even more impressive to do it while riding a games-played ironman streak of 927 games – the fourth-longest ironman streak in league history – while also being an important part of a legitimate Stanley Cup frontrunner in the Colorado Avalanche.
But that’s exactly what’s being done right now by 40-year-old defenseman Brent Burns. A 22-year NHL veteran who becomes only the eighth defenseman in league history to reach the 1,500-game plateau.
The others to reach that level – Zdeno Chara (1,680 games), Chris Chelios (1,651), Scott Stevens (1,635), Larry Murphy (1,615), Ray Bourque (1,612), Nicklas Lidstrom (1,564), and Ryan Suter (1,526) – are all legends in one way or another, so Burns is in rare air when it comes to NHL longevity.
What makes Burns’ 1,500-game achievement – that will happen Saturday night when the Avalanche take on the Dallas Stars – all the more impressive is the fact that Burns has played an intense, physical game his entire career. This is not a delicate flower of an athlete we’re talking about. Staying healthy and in the lineup night in and night out, year after year, in the grind of the industry for nearly a dozen seasons as a physical force is a major feat. Most of all, Burns has been a star player who made his opponents’ lives much tougher, and he’s been an impact player at both ends of the ice.
While you don’t have to lean completely on individual numbers when you’re discussing someone’s effectiveness as an elite player, it’s still a fact that Burns has generated 649 assists and 910 points in 1,499 games. That should tell you all you need to know about the all-around impact he’s had on the four teams he’s played for – the Minnesota Wild, San Jose Sharks, Carolina Hurricanes and Avalanche.
In his first two games with the Avs this year, Burns is averaging nearly 21 minutes a night (20:49, to be exact). But Father Time remains undefeated, so it’s undeniable that Burns might not be in the NHL much longer. This opportunity to win a Stanley Cup could be Burns’ last, best opportunity to win it all and cap off what is a Hockey Hall of Fame career.
Burns has already won a Norris Trophy as the league’s top blueliner. He’s also won a gold medal at the IIHF World Championship and at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. To think – this is a player who was converted from a forward to a defenseman in his first NHL season. Think of how difficult that transition had to be for Burns. Think of how your mindset has to change, and how you have to play even more responsibly when you’re a D-man. That’s what Burns went through and came out the other side with flying colors.
Thus, we believe that Burns is a Hockey Hall of Famer. He’s an excellent example of NHL longevity, excellent offensively, posting back-to-back seasons of 27 and 29 goals with the Sharks, as well as a 67-assist season for San Jose. He’s been stellar as a punishing player who’ll make you pay a physical price for daring to keep the puck away from him.
Burns’ all-around impact is what’s made him so valuable for so many years, and he’s now got a golden opportunity with the Avs to finish up his playing days by hoisting a Cup next spring.
Burns wouldn’t be the first Hall of Famer who failed to run the competitive NHL gamut and retire as a Cup-winner, and if that’s how his career pans out, he wouldn’t be the last, either. But for more than 11 years, he’s answered the bell and skated out onto the ice to play an elite game each and every night in hockey’s best league.
Avalanche fans are going to celebrate his 1,500-game achievement Saturday, but the real party could be happening in Denver in this season’s post-season. And Burns could contribute offensively and defensively to give Colorado the extra push they need to win a Cup.
And if the Avs do win a championship, Burns will be thrilled to bookend his career with the championship he’s chased for more than two decades. Burns has been a high-impact player throughout his career, and that’s likely to be true of him again this season.
Winning a Cup would be a storybook finish to an unlikely success story, but Burns’s challenge is to do precisely that.
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