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Panthers great Steve Smith Sr. reveals he worked with Jonathan Mingo during offseason
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By Anybodyhome · Posted
So, let's just settle into some Brent Burns facts before we end his career without proper due. Burnsie, as he prefers to be called, has played 1464 games in his career, 2nd most among active players. He has played 892 consecutive games, 1st among active players. He's going to be 40 in March and he's still a top line defenseman. He has a career 51 point per season average (15G/36A) and he's on pace to put up 40 this season. But he's a blue-liner and his offense is a secondary priority for this team. His previous 2 seasons were well above his career average, but let's not forget this was a different team those 2 seasons. Brent Burns takes a lot of shots from the blue line. The vast majority are looking for a deflection, rebound or a bounce. As good as goalies are these days, it's a fact not many shots are going in untouched from the blue line. So he shoots looking for a redirect, loose puck or rebound. He doesn't have the net front he's enjoyed the past couple years with guys like Noesen, Bunting, Jesper Fast, Teravainen; all of whom have stacked up many goals off Burns shots from the blue line. He's 40, and yes, he's slowed down. But, last night's game clearly showed more than once he can still skate when needed. He was as quick as I've ever seen a couple times last night. That being said, if you watched Columbus last night, they are a study in contract to the Canes. Columbus passes are direct and with pace. Player to player. When in the offensive zone, they rotate the puck with speed and precision, which also benefits their PP, one of the best in the league. Carolina, on the other hand, utilizes a lot of passing to areas on the ice rather than to players. Passes with anticipation of a players getting to the puck. This includes a lot of blind passes, no-look passes and passes without a lot of pace or speed on them. That's not just Brent Burns, that's the entire team. Carolina plays a much riskier game in that respect and the consequences of not being successful are what we saw last night in the 1st period and the Chicago game 1st period as well. Burnsie's TOI is down again this year, as is Slavin's. Keep in mind, during Burnsie's tenure in San Jose, his TOI was 25-26 minutes per game! He and Slavin are both below 22 for the second season in a row, which helps keep them fresh. If the game is pretty much in hand, it's unlikely you'll see Burns and Slavin on the ice during the last 2-3 shifts of the game. He's not the PP point man anymore- Gostisbehere has that job; and Chatfield's minutes have gone up over 3 minutes per game, even finding some time on the PK. So, it's clear RBA sees what 40 years of age and over 10 seasons of not missing a game will do to a player, and he's doing what he needs to keep #8 as healthy and ready as possible. Burns is an unrestricted free agent after this season. If he decides to continue playing, the Canes will be hard-pressed to find a top line d-man to fill his shoes if they opt not to keep him, even with his few liabilities. Because, for every mistake Burnsie makes during the course of a game, he makes 5-6 other plays you can point out as underrated or under appreciated. Someone look at the list of UFA defensemen and tell me who replaces Burns on the top line? There's maybe 1 name on that list, Aaron Ekblad, who will finish his 8-year, $7.5M contract after the season. -
By NorthTryon · Posted
The reports were the same there as in New England. The inexperience of both coaches was so evident that the owners knew they had to move on immediately. The big things were scheduling and preparation were so inadequate, once you paired that with terrible in game decisions, and losses it was a wrap. Hence, now you have two grown ups in both places. The Raiders were looking for and elder statesman though for sure with the options in their search. -
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