Trade Bait: 3 potential deals for the Sharks' Brent Burns

Brent Burns has one of the craziest stories in the NHL. While playing in the OHL his draft year, Burns leaned on a huge playoff run to get noticed. The baby-faced teenager was then drafted by the Minnesota Wild in the 1st-round roughly 50 spots sooner then some had him penciled in. Burns made his way to Minny and battled for ice-time on the wing. After some injuries, a lock-out year and a golden idea, Burns moved back to the blue line and he's been one of the best defensemen in the league ever since. San Jose struggled last season and recently there's been reports surfacing that maybe the Sharks want to entertain a move.

via GIPHY

While one report has the Sharks 'wild-man' heading to Buffalo, here's a few other teams to consider for the bearded wonder:

To the Toronto Maple Leafs for Kasperi Kapanen, Timothy Liljegren and Martin Marincin

Some might say this is a lot for a 35-year-old d-men, while others would think San Jose would be crazy to accept this. Burns is in amazing shape and will easily be mobile enough to finish his contract out with production. Ending his career with the Leafs would be a story-book ending, and something his parents in Barrie, Ontario would love very much. This deal gives the Sharks two pieces to build around including a top-prospect with offensive abilities from the back-end. There's been a ton of talks about Burns' BFF, Joe Thornton signing a one-year next season with the Leafs, wouldn't this be interesting.....

To the Tampa Bay Lightning for Mikhail Sergachev and Yanni Gourde

The Lightning much like the Leafs don't have a ton of wiggle room under the cap so a couple of significant salaries must go the other way. Sergachev is 22 and gives the Sharks a cornerstone piece for the future, meanwhile he's also an RFA and expecting a huge raise that Tampa currently can't afford. Tampa could fit Burns and his $8 million under their cap, however with Anthony Cirelli's contract top of mind, don't expect much out of T-Bay until that extension is signed. More of a pipe dream with this one, these two teams are certainly an interesting pair.

To the Carolina Hurricanes for Brett Pesce, Ryan Dzingel, and a draft pick

Trading 25 for 35 would be a tough pill to swallow for any GM, but when the eldest has 80-point potential and the 'young-in' can't get 30 points, you entertain this deal. Dzingel would be a throw in for $$ purposes, and the Sharks would be looking for at least a 2nd-rounder as the pick. The move would give the Hurricanes another offensive force for their lineup, which has underrated fire power. How's the wildlife in Carolina?

Brent Burns is as fun-loving as they come. A family man who loves the great outdoors, he's built an empire in San Jose and quite frankly it would be weird to see the beard wearing any other colors at this point. However, hockey's a business and if the Sharks struggle again next season, expect some major changes in California. Burnzie has very limited trade protection so the biggest hinder in any deal would be his age, and the $8 million a year to go with it.

Stranger things have happened, and if you ask Burns, who is probably feeding one of his animals on his massive ranch right now, he may tell you he prefers strange.