I think the guy has the size, a good hockey IQ and all the talent in the world.......he really showed his potential in contract year when he put up 130 hits then down to 50 hits after large contract? Anybody know the story behind this? Was he just trying to get paid or will he start hitting again?

The answer is one word: CONCUSSIONS. Throwing hits will certainly aggravate that. As to whether or not he'll start to throw them again is anyone's guess.

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12 team Full Dynasty w cap. 13F, 7D, 2G, 5B.
G 4.25, A 2.75, PPP 1.5, SHP 3, Hits 0.4, Blocks 0.5, PIM 0.25, DFP 1
W 5 OTL 1 SO 6 SV 0.25 L-1 GS 1

F:Stamkos, C Stew, R Johansen, B Dubinsky, Max Pac, Umberger, B Ryan, D Backes, T Ruutu, Lucic, Ott, MSL, Heatley, C Kunitz, J Benn, L Adam

D: C Fowler, Kronwall, A Goligoski, JM Liles, M Giordano, K Letang, N Nikitin, R Josi

G: J Quick, A Niemi, C Anderson, Rinne

I'd say there are probably a lot of minor factors at play here but dongjohnson hits on a good one but I don't know that it's necessarily the reason. Burns was still a beast in hits during his last season in Minnesota and that was after the concussion woes.

I also look to the way San Jose is utilizing him as opposed to Minnesota. Burns received 56% of his starts in the offensive zone. His last few years in Minnesota were all sub-50% for offensive zone starts.

I think that team style may be a factor here as well. I can't really point to any evidence that would say either San Jose or Minnesota is a big hitting team but I also can't really say that either team isn't. The data for such stuff just doesn't go back far enough and isn't readily accessible. You could certainly hypothesize that San Jose's coaches basically instructed Boyle and Burns to be on a very tight leash in terms of physical play due to how heavily the team leaned on them as essentially the only two reliable defensemen on the team. Now Burns was also one of the top defensemen during his time in Minnesota so a similar instruction could have been made but I think Minnesota's D was underrated during that time. They actually had several decent but not fantastic players to rely on.

Don't rule out the fact that since Burns came up with Minnesota and was one of their core leaders that the team had a really tough time asking him to change his style and go with a less physical approach, especially considering the turnover in the coaching staff that they experienced during Burns' last few seasons. Those teams weren't very good and it wouldn't be a stretch to say the coaching staff wasn't very secure, confident or effective in communicating and employing their plans.

Furthermore, Burns was coming off his injury and I'm sure the Wild felt it more imperative to simply allow him to play whatever style he felt necessary to get back to his comfort level coming off those concussion woes.

Then he goes to San Jose, a team with an established leadership group, and a history of success. It would be easy to see how Burns could be humbled by his trade to this team. This is a team who when they speak (be it the captains, coaches, trainers, GM, whomever) Burns would be inclined to listen. If the message was; we need you healthy and in the lineup and on the ice and not in the penalty box; then the move for Burns would be to play a much more solid positional game with fewer risks chasing down hits.

Now San Jose upgraded their D this summer in adding Brad Stuart so maybe that opens Burns up to take a few more chances but ultimately I could still see this being a lasting change as Burns makes the change to playing a more mature sophosticated game that will help his longevity in this league.

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