Report: Sharks trade franchise icon Burns to Hurricanes originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
Another Sharks staple appears to be heading out the door after the team reportedly traded Brent Burns to the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday.
The Sharks are sending Brent Burns and AHL forward Lane Pederson to the hurricanes for Steven Lorentz, goalie prospect Eetu Makiniemi and a conditional 2023 third-round pick, as first reported by The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun.
Per LeBrun, the Sharks are retaining 33 percent of Burns’ contract. The 37-year-old defenseman has three years left on his contract with an $8 million annual average value, meaning San Jose will retain a $2.64 million cap hit over the next three seasons.
Burns had a three-team trade clause that didn’t include the Hurricanes, but the reported trade means the defenseman ultimately agreed to the deal. General manager Mike Grier on Monday said he would let Burns “lead the way” when it came to potential trade discussions.
“As a former player myself, as you get older, you want to keep that competitive fire burning,” Grier told reporters on Monday. “And what keeps that burning is the chase for the Cup and winning.”
Burns played in San Jose for over a decade after being traded to the Sharks by the Minnesota Wild in 2011, and the team went on to make the NHL playoffs eight times since then — including a Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2016.
The Sharks’ decision to have Burns focus on playing defense turned him into a force to be reckoned with on the ice. The six-time NHL All-Star was the Norris Trophy winner as the league’s top defenseman in 2017 and has 227 goals with 550 assists across 1,251 career games with the Sharks and Wild.
Last season, Burns put up 10 goals and 44 assists in 82 games with San Jose.
In return for Burns and Pederson, who is scheduled to earn $750,000 this upcoming season, the Sharks received a fourth-round draft pick in Makiniemi, who was selected by the Hurricanes in 2017 and played professionally in Finland before joining the AHL Chicago Wolves last season. Lorentz played two seasons with the Hurricanes, scoring 21 points in 112 games.
If the deal does in fact go through, Burns will be joining a Hurricanes team that finished top of the Metro Division. They posted 54 wins this season, before losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1 in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
