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Wild make Brent Burns a contract offer

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Dan-o

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Jun 25, 2002
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The Wild are engaged in contract negotiations with Brent Burns, their 2003 1st round choice and the #20 choice overall. I'm sure that nobody saw this coming back in June, and now Lemaire has stated that, based on what he's seen in training camp, he doesn't think Burns can improve anymore by returning to the OHL. They're holding him out of preseason games until he's signed.

Now, according to the article, we can still send him back by Sep. 28 but he'd be able to keep the signing bonus. Everybody knows how cheap the Wild are; I doubt they'd be making the contract offer if they didn't feel very confident he was staying up.

This is absolutely unbelievable. It looks like the Wild may not have been reaching as much as assumed. If Lemaire likes him this much, that says something.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/1330/4109377.html

http://www.startribune.com/stories/503/4108264.html
Click to read more...
 

Dan-o

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Well, my report will be limited to what others have said about him. I haven't seen him myself because Wild training camps are closed to the public.

Basically, he played defense until last season. At the beginning of the year, he was moved to forward. He played RW on the 4th line until Christmas and was ranked the 101st NA forward. He then moved up to the 1st line and scored about a point a game throughout the rest of the season and playoffs. At the end of the year, he was #39 on the list of NA skaters. The Wild's selection was still out of left field though.

He's 6'4, 200 pounds, great defensively (as I said a former d-man), good handling the puck, good speed (a prerequisite for Lemaire), good finisher. Just about everybody I've talked to says he has a lot of natural talent; he's just inexperienced at the forward position. Wish I could elaborate more, but like I said I've never seen him myself. It looks like I might see a lot of him this year.
 

ChemiseBleuHonnete

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Oct 28, 2002
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thanks... I thought at first that the wild made a bad pick, but it looks like a very good project to me! Even more since I hear he's close to NHL.
 

thestonedkoala

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From one of the guys, he's an absolute shark of a player. He doesn't stand still for a second in the crease, either trying to pick up a rebound or trying to deflect a puck in or screening the goalie.

I think partly it was due to the fact that this was an unknown guy that was reported to be a middle to late 2nd round pick.

To say the least, this is absolutely amazing and awesome to hear that he is going to be a Wild player this year. I love it! He is going to rock! He does need to fill out a bit but he has the size to be a truly stand-out player.
 

Sea Bass

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Mar 6, 2003
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Forget about the article and how it talks about him reading 24/7 and all that. Many people in Brampton wonder if he's mentally ready to make the jump. He's a young 18.
 

ceber

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Apr 28, 2003
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Wyoming, MN
Sea Bass said:
Forget about the article and how it talks about him reading 24/7 and all that. Many people in Brampton wonder if he's mentally ready to make the jump. He's a young 18.
Click to expand...

It's nice that they're concerned. Lemaire's pretty good at this, though; he won't rush a kid in.
 

HFNHL Red Wings

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I have been pleased to hear all the good reports about Brent Burns but have to admit I'm a bit skeptical. I am a big follower of the Brampton Battalion (home town team as it were) and enjoyed watching him develop last season but still don't see more than a potential 3rd line / PK defensive specialist. Something all teams need but not something you use the 20th overall pick to aquire. Put it this way, despite being accused of being a homer about Battlion players when we hold our annual HFNHL sim league draft (done the week before the actual NHL draft) I had not planned on picking him until the late 3rd round/early 4th round although someone did pick him earlier in our draft.
Believe me when I say I'm not down on the guy because as a fan I love heart and soul hard working guys like Burns but he just doesn't have the offensive potential (at least from what I've seen) to justify that high of a pick. I am convinced that a scout was in the stands for a particular playoff game against the Barrie Colts that I attended. In that game he single handedly killed penalties and was superhuman defensively but that was a one time occurance ... always defensively good but no where near what he showed in that single game.
 

ceber

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Apr 28, 2003
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Wyoming, MN
HFNHL Red Wings said:
I have been pleased to hear all the good reports about Brent Burns but have to admit I'm a bit skeptical. I am a big follower of the Brampton Battalion (home town team as it were) and enjoyed watching him develop last season but still don't see more than a potential 3rd line / PK defensive specialist. Something all teams need but not something you use the 20th overall pick to aquire. Put it this way, despite being accused of being a homer about Battlion players when we hold our annual HFNHL sim league draft (done the week before the actual NHL draft) I had not planned on picking him until the late 3rd round/early 4th round although someone did pick him earlier in our draft.
Believe me when I say I'm not down on the guy because as a fan I love heart and soul hard working guys like Burns but he just doesn't have the offensive potential (at least from what I've seen) to justify that high of a pick. I am convinced that a scout was in the stands for a particular playoff game against the Barrie Colts that I attended. In that game he single handedly killed penalties and was superhuman defensively but that was a one time occurance ... always defensively good but no where near what he showed in that single game.
Click to expand...

I'd be very surprised if the Wild were interested in signing him because of what he did in Brampton.
 
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