Barrie's Brent Burns has agreed to terms on a one-year, $1 million deal with the NHL's Colorado Avalanche, the team announced Wednesday.
Burns will enter his age-40 season in 2025-26 as the only active player to have appeared in the NHL before the 2004-05 lockout.
He's played in every team game across the last 11 seasons of his career, accumulating a total of 925 consecutive games played for what stands as the fourth-longest streak in NHL history.
Colorado will be the fourth NHL team in Burns' career after being drafted 20th by Minnesota in 2003 and later being traded to San Jose and then to Carolina.
He's projected to be on the Avalanche's third defence pair alongside Samuel Girard.
His time with the Sharks were the most successful, including the first Norris Trophy win in franchise history.
While in San Jose in 2017, he scored a career-high 29 goals, led the NHL in shots on goal, and helped lead the team to a Western Conference championship. Then, in 2019, he had a career-high 83 points.
Burns has been a first-team all-star selection twice (2017, 2019) and a second-team selection once (2016).
He also had a goal and four assists for five points in 15 games during the Stanley Cup Playoffs this past spring with Carolina.
NHL STATISTICS
| SEASON | TEAM | GP | G | A | PTS. | +/- | PIM | ATOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 |  | 82 | 6 | 23 | 29 | 7 | 28 | 20:57 |
| CAREER | 1,497 | 261 | 649 | 910 | 11 | 855 | 22:22 |
Burns' 910 points put him at eighth all-time in NHL history among defenceman.
He is also accomplished on the international stage, having won the 2015 IIHF World Championship and the 2016 World Cup of Hockey with Canada's men's national ice hockey team.
In total, he's represented Canada at five senior men's international tournaments, including four IIHF World Championships (2008, 2010-11, 2015). He was named the best defenceman of the tournament in his first and last World Championships.
The Barrie-native is one of just two active NHL players from the city, and both are defencemen. The other, Isaak Philips, played parts of the last four seasons with Chicago and is now part of the Winnipeg Jets organization after being traded in January.
