Burns also won the NHL Foundation Player Award for outstanding charitable and community work. San Jose returned Burns to defenseman in 2014-15 he scored 17 goals and finished tied for second among NHL defensemen with 60 points. The Sharks moved Burns to forward during the 2012-13 season, and he blossomed in 2013-14, scoring 22 goals and getting his first NHL hat trick against the Blues on Nov. 15, 2011, he scored his first goal for the Sharks in a 4-2 loss to the St. The Wild traded Burns to the Sharks on June 24, 2011, and he made his San Jose debut Oct. His 46 points (17 goals, 29 assists) in 2010-11 set a Wild single-season mark for defensemen and earned him his first trip to the NHL All-Star Game. In 2006-07, Burns became the first NHL defenseman in four years to score overtime winners in back-to-back games he did it on March 11, 2007, against the Colorado Avalanche and two nights later against the Vancouver Canucks.īurns played all 82 games for the first time in 2007-08 and set a Wild record for defensemen with eight power-play goals. The Wild saw Burns more as a defenseman than a forward.

8, 2003, against the Chicago Blackhawks, and scored his first NHL goal in his third game, against the Sharks. He made his NHL debut with the Wild on Oct. The versatility that allowed Burns to play forward or defenseman helped him fashion an NHL career, but the decision by the San Jose Sharks to have him focus on playing defenseman turned him into a force on the ice.īorn in Barrie, Ontario, Burns spent the 2002-03 season with Brampton of the Ontario Hockey League after being selected by the Minnesota Wild in the first round (No.

The Hat by Jan Brett