One of the factors that is often taken into account during NHL free agency is your odds/chances of winning the Stanley Cup. Some prioritize it more than others. Some prioritize a paycheck more than anything else. In the case of first-year Colorado Avalanche Brent Burns, the former is his priority as he is playing in his age-40 season. He turns 41 near the end of the regular season, on a day that is in between games. He’ll finish off the regular season as a 41-year-old.
Who knows what the future holds for Burns, but he unfortunately is on the backend of his career, so a Stanley Cup is in his sights. I believe that was the biggest reason Burns signed with the Avalanche in early July to a one-year, $1 million deal. If that doesn’t scream “last ditch at a championship,” I don’t know what does.
The Avalanche couldn’t get Zach Parise a Stanley Cup championship before his playing career ended. They’ll want to do everything they can to help Burns finish off a Hall of Fame-worthy career with one accolade he does not currently have.
On Tuesday night, Burns will play his 1,530th career regular season game. He’s got an ironman streak going, having played all 82 games in each of the past four seasons, something he has done a total of 10 times. You don’t put in all of that work to come up short, especially if you have been playing for as long as Burns has (22 seasons).
Recently, former Avalanche defender Erik Johnson did a television segment which was posted to the NHLonESPN official YouTube channel. Johnson headed to former teammate Gabriel Landeskog’s house to do a quick tour which is followed by some comments from the captain himself.
As Johnson mentions after entering Landeksog’s house, this was his very first featured interview. What better person to interview than the guy who all of the Avalanche players lean on?
The two started chatting more when they got to the trophy room in Landeskog’s house and things got real, quick.
They started talking about their Stanley Cup postseason run and how that’s when his injury occurred, when Cale Makar’s skate blade grazed his knee, which created the issues that he had to work through over the next three years. It’s just amazing how he never gave up, despite times where he felt defeated. Now he’s back and trying to help the Avalanche bring the Stanley Cup back to Colorado.
At the end, Johnson asks Landeskog who he thinks he would pass the Stanley Cup to if they end up winning it all this season. Landeskog got a little nudge from Johnson about the answer being Burns.
You can check out the whole video here.
Brent Burns is the oldest on the team, and still searching for the Stanley Cup
For many decades now, the NHL has had a tradition during the Stanley Cup celebration that every team takes part in once they are awarded the grand prize. The NHL commissioner presents Lord Stanley to the winning team, and calls up the team’s captain to take a picture and then lift the Cup in celebration for the very first time.
Then, the captain gives the Stanley Cup off to another player, notably one who has been in the league a long time and who had not won it up to that point. Each player gets a turn to lift it up, perhaps give it a kiss, and skate around the rink, along the boards close to fans so that they can share that moment as real as possible.
So, in the case of the Avalanche, the first player who would (and did in 2021-22) do that sequence is Landeskog, who has been the team’s captain since 2011. He passed the trophy to—you guessed it—Erik Johnson, who is and has been his close friend for many years now.
It’s going to be sad when Brent Burns retires. He’s been a part of the league for such a long time and has had so much success. I really hope that the Avalanche come through and win the Stanley Cup for him so that he can check that off of his bucket list. Who knows, though? If they fall short this year, maybe he’ll want to try and run it back, as they say. He’d have to sign another contract with the team.
I would also love to mention how great I think EJ is as part of the media side of the sport now. I think the fact that he decided to go into the broadcasting field was a great choice by him. He’s a complete natural. I know that EJ was heavily known for his gap in his mouth (like the great Michael Strahan), but good for him for getting that fixed up after his playing career concluded.
Every Avs fan is hoping that Landeskog can help lead the Colorado Avalanche to a Stanley Cup victory and help Brent Burns check off that one last reward for his long, incredible NHL career.