The NHL free agent frenzy is in full swing, and the Colorado Avalanche have made a move to fill in a missing hole in their roster, acquiring veteran defenseman Brent Burns to a one year contract. With the departure of Ryan Lindgren to Seattle earlier in free agency, the Avs, needed to fill the gap on the blue line, and Brent Burns was just the guy they needed to fill that spot. The recently turned 40 year old signed the deal at just $1 million AAV, making it an extremely cheap and low risk deal for the team, and a nice bit of extra money for Burns, as he winds down into what could be the final year of his illustrious hockey career. Burns recorded just six goals and 29 points last year while playing in Carolina, and fifteen more points in the playoffs, including five goals en route to the Canes’ eastern conference finals run. Although the production between last year and the year before was a significant step down for Burns, his hockey IQ and experience in the league is an intangible trait any team would love to have on their roster.

Burns was awarded the Norris trophy in 2017 as the league’s best blue-liner, and has an extensive amount of time in the playoffs, making multiple conference finals runs and even a trip to the Stanley Cup finals with San Jose in 2017. The style of play that Burns brings to the ice is tailor made for the playoffs, hard, physical, and smash-mouthed. While a younger Brent was known as a D-man with the capabilities to skate and shoot with the finesse of a winger, in his maturity Burns has refined his game to be a hard shooting and big bodied presence no one wants to be caught in front of with their head down.

What Burns is immediately able to bring to the Avs is a presence on the ice that the team is currently lacking, someone who can play tough along the boards to win a majority of 50/50 pucks and overall be a force with his size. During Colorado’s playoff match up with Dallas this past postseason, one of the biggest struggles the Avs faced was being simply out manned and shoved off the puck against the boards. Dallas’ superior size allowed them to control the board battles, that turned into breakout passes which sprung multiple high danger chances resulting in multiple goals being scored, and turned into the Stars’ primary source of quick offence. Since the departure of Mikko Rantanen from Colorado, the Avs have been missing that big body that can help out and fight for pucks in rough and rugged areas of the ice like the corners and along the wall.

The addition of Burns is a nice move in my opinion, and while their might have been better or more valuable defensemen still on the free agency board at the time of Burns’ signing, I think that the low risk contract only gives Burns something to play for, to show that even at 40 he still has value left in the tank. Colorado is gearing up this offseason at another postseason run, and with the newly added body on the blue line, teams will surely think twice from now on before getting into a battle or trying to enter the zone against the man with the best beard in hockey.

Possible Lineup Projection

F Line 1: Lehkonen – Mackinnon – Necas

F Line 2: Landeskog – Nelson – Nichushkin

F Line 3: Ivan – Drury – Colton

F Line 4: Prishchepov – Kelly – Stienburg

D Pair 1: Toews – Makar

D Pair 2: Girard – Manson

D Pair 3: Malinski – Burns

G1: Blackwood

G2: Wedgewood