The Colorado Avalanche made a surprise signing at the beginning of July when they brought defenseman Brent Burns into the fold. My first thought, especially given that he is expected to play a lesser role than years past, is that he will be a bottom defenseman.
One thing that some people might not know is that Burns has played as a forward in the past. In fact, on his Hockey Reference page, it specifically has him at the right wing position in three of his 21 seasons in the league. Interestingly enough, they weren’t all with the same team: He played as a right wing for the Minnesota Wild in his rookie season (2003-04) and again in 2005-06 before playing the next seven years as a defenseman for Wild and then Sharks.
In his third season with San Jose, the team put listed him as a right wing.
On Thursday, Brennan Vogt of Hockey Mountain High posted a clip on X of Burns ripping off some wrist shots in preparation for the 2025-26 season. Now, it’s easy to overreact on something like this, but the clip made me think that perhaps the Avalanche might want to try and get some offense from the 40 year old Burns.
We have discussed in the past about Burns’ Ironman-like career, as he’s played a full 82-game season a remarkable 10 times in his career. Maybe Burns still has some juice in his game to be able to put up double-digit goals in 2025-26. If that appears to happen—if he goes on a tear at some point—perhaps head coach Jared Bednar decides that he can be put into either a bigger defensive role or even a fourth-line wing role.
It’s no secret that the Avalanche want—no, need—more offensive depth scoring. They can’t just rely on the top two lines to get the puck in the net. It could result in Bednar putting Burns into a spot where he had been comfortable in the past.
Burns has 13 double-digit goal seasons in his career. You pair him with someone such as Parker Kelly and you could have a line capable of physicality as well as scoring. That might be a start in trying to fix the team’s inability to get the lower lines to contribute at a greater rate.