If you watch a San Jose Sharks game, Brent Burns is always going to be one of the easiest players to identify, and it's not just because he is a massive 6-foot-5, 230 pound figure that carries around an additional 10 pounds of beard and hair (yeah, that might be an exaggeration, but it's probably not).
What makes him so easy to spot is that he's usually at the center of everything that is happening in the game when he is on the ice and will almost always be one of the most dominant players in any game he plays.
Burns is a unique talent that has excelled as a defenseman, spent parts of two seasons as a top-line power forward (a really good one, too) and is now back to being one of the best defensemen in the league.
The list of players in NHL history that have played at that high of a level at two different positions is a short one, especially in the modern era. Dustin Byfuglien, originally drafted as a defenseman, started to make his impact in the NHL as a power forward in Chicago before being shifted to defense in Atlanta, a position where he has become a star for the Thrashers/Jets organization.
Sergei Fedorov, one of the best two-way forwards of all-time, spent some time playing defense for Scotty Bowman in Detroit. Bowman also used Phil Housley as a forward for a brief period of time early in his career in Buffalo.
Other than that group, you pretty much have to go back to the pre-expansion era to find players that could excel at either position.
Now a full-time defenseman again, Burns is putting together one of the most productive offensive seasons of any defenseman in recent league history.
He scored two more goals in the Sharks' 4-0 Game 2 win over the St. Louis Blues in the Western Conference finals, continuing to add to his almost unbelievable level of production.
Burns finished the regular season as the second-leading scorer among defenders (trailing only the unbelievable 82 points in 82 games from Erik Karlsson of the Ottawa Senators) with 75 points. Through Tuesday, he is the second leading scorer among all players in the playoffs with 18 points (six goals, 12 assists), trailing teammate Logan Couture by just a single point.
Combined, he has played in 96 games this season in the regular season and playoffs and has 93 points (33 goals, 60 assists) and 401 shots on goal.
In this era of the NHL those would be great numbers for even the best forwards in the league. For a defenseman, it is one of the best seasons any player has had over the past 20 years.
Just look at the top-10 seasons ranked by total points in the regular season and playoffs since 1995-96.
| Player (Season) | Games | Goals | Points | Shots |
| Brent Burns (2015-16)* | 96 | 33 | 93 | 401 |
| Brian Leetch (1995-96) | 93 | 16 | 92 | 310 |
| Ray Bourque (1995-96) | 87 | 21 | 89 | 418 |
| Brian Leetch (1996-97) | 97 | 22 | 88 | 312 |
| Paul Coffey (1995-96) | 93 | 19 | 88 | 283 |
| Duncan Keith (2009-10) | 104 | 16 | 86 | 274 |
| Sandis Ozolinsh (1996-97) | 97 | 27 | 85 | 271 |
| Nicklas Lidstrom (2007-08) | 98 | 13 | 83 | 229 |
| Erik Karlsson (2015-16)** | 82 | 16 | 82 | 248 |
| Nicklas Lidstrom (2005-06) | 86 | 17 | 82 | 264 |
*still playing
**no playoffs
Incredible stuff. His 33 goals are the most, as are his 93 points (he would be fourth in points per game, just behind Bourque and Leetch in 1995-96 and Karlsson, who did not get to play in any playoff games, this season).
His 401 shots on goal are second to only Bourque's 418 in 1995-96. No other defensemen had more than 312 shots on goal.
Along with the scoring, Burns is a 53 percent possession player on the year during 5-on-5 play.
Only two games into the Western Conference finals, he can obviously add to those numbers, and given how much of the Sharks' offense runs through him, including their at-times unstoppable looking power play, he probably will.
At this point you have to not only consider him one of the league's top players, but he has also pretty much become a superstar with this year's performance.
