Burns was selected 74th overall by the Blues in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft on Thursday.
Burns was front and center all season long for an OHL Kingston team which is going through a rebuild. The Fronts finished 11 games under .500 and Burns was overextended in the process. He played too many minutes and his draft stock suffered as a result. Everyone seems to agree Burns skates well enough to play in the NHL, but the current prevailing belief is that his decision making and play with the puck need a ton of work. Perhaps Burns can improve to the point he can carve out a role as an energetic, third-pairing defender, but as is, he's nothing more than a long-term dart throw for the Blues.