Kyle Burroughs has wrapped up his first season with the San Jose Sharks, and by the numbers, it was a successful one. Statistically, Burroughs was one of the Sharks’ more effective defensemen. While he did not contribute much on offense, he did seem to have a better chance of preventing goals than many of his fellow defensemen this season.
However, on a team that was as extremely bad defensively as the Sharks, Burroughs’ success needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Even as one of the more effective defensemen last season, his numbers aren’t great.
Burroughs’ 2023-24 production
Burroughs played nearly 1,398 minutes of ice time this season and averaged just over 19 minutes per game.
Games Played | G | A | Pts | +/- | TOI/G |
73 | 2 | 6 | 8 | -42 | 19:08 |
Burroughs’ stats are underwhelming, to say the least. He was usually used in even-strength situations with limited time on the power play or penalty kill. In fact, Burroughs’ 79:58 of ice time on the penalty kill was fifth on the team among defensemen, behind Mario Ferraro, Jan Rutta, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Henry Thrun. Both Vlasic and Thrun played fewer games than Burroughs.
Burroughs’ game impact
Statistically, Burroughs appears to have had an okay season. According to Evolving-Hockey, his wins above replacement (WAR) is 0.2, while his goals above replacement (GAR) 0.9. He had a minimal positive impact on the team.
You can see this a bit when you look at his regularized adjusted plus-minus (RAPM) chart from Evolving-Hockey

According to the chart, he was generating chances and controlling possession of the puck (see xGF/60 and CF/60), even though those chances were not realized in the game (GF/60). What’s more, he was good on defense, even with a very slight positive impact in preventing goals against (xGA/60).
His lack of impact on the power play is concerning, considering the Sharks had one more skater than the other team, but that’s likely why the Burroughs power play time was limited in nature.
One big red flag for Sharks fans is that Burroughs was prone to mistakes. He took more penalties than he drew. According to Natural Stat Trick, Burroughs took 31 penalties this season, only three of them were majors. Yet, he only drew 16 penalties.
Eye test vs. the numbers
The penalty discrepancy helps lead to the biggest issues with Burroughs’ game. Sometimes, the eye test doesn’t line up with the underlying numbers. Many times, mistakes made by Burroughs stand out more than his successes.
For instance, this play on March 26 against the Dallas Stars.
WOO! Robo was quick with that one š„¶@dallasstars | #TexasHockey | @BallySports šŗ pic.twitter.com/E8r4Qceect
— Bally Sports Southwest (@BallySportsSW) March 27, 2024
It’s an easy clearing attempt that somehow ends up in the back of the Sharks’ net. Mikael Granlund wins the faceoff, and Burroughs cleanly gathers the puck. He faces light pressure as he tries to clear the puck out of the Sharks zone. However, Burroughs doesn’t get the puck out. Instead, he practically looks the Stars’ Jason Robertson in the eyes before passing him the puck at the point.
It is a mistake that directly led to that Dallas goal.
During the March 9 game against the Ottawa Senators, Burroughs made several poor decisions on defense that led to scoring chances, though no goals. At one point in the third period, Burroughs went to lay a hit on a rushing Senator but missed. The player blew past him, leaving Magnus Chrona to make the save. Near the tail end of the game, Burroughs had an easy clearing attempt that he missed. It led to several Ottawa shots on goal before the Sharks could ice the puck.
However, in Ottawa, the puck never went into the net during these plays, and Burroughs was statistically considered one of the better players on the ice during that game. His expected goals for (xGF) was 1.1, and his expected goals against (xGA) for that game was 0.6, according to Hockey Stat Cards.
Burroughs plays a gritty game
Sharks management wants the Sharks to be harder to play against and Burroughs definitely contributes in that regard. He led the team in hits this season with 211. The second player on the list was Luke Kunin, who was far behind with 145.
Burroughs also takes a hit to make the play. He also led the team in hits taken with 119.
He blocks shots. He was second on the team with 134 behind only Mario Ferraro’s 194 blocked shots. Plus, he’s willing to drop the gloves when necessary.
He fits the mold that the Sharks are looking for.
Burroughs’ future with the Sharks
But does his minimal game impact make all that grit worth it?
This season, Burroughs was an average defenseman on a team that was bad defensively. However, taking into account his age, 28, there were mistakes you would rather not see. He has 168 career NHL games, and 73 of them came this season with the Sharks.
Burroughs’ contract isn’t huge. It’s $1.1 million through the 2025-26 season.
But his history in the league should be a cause for concern. His previous teams are the Colorado Avalanche and the Vancouver Canucks, both of which reached the second round of the playoffs. Given the size of his contract, near league minimum, it’s clear that if either Vancouver or Colorado thought that Burroughs could help a Cup-contending team, they would have re-signed him.
This leads to another conclusion: Burroughs isn’t a player that a team with playoff dreams needs, even in a sixth- or seventh-defenseman role.
While Burroughs might be counted on to fill gaps in the Sharks’ defense next season, he should also be one of the first in line to move down to the Barracuda if the blueline gets too crowded. That $1.1 million should be easy to bury or trade once younger defensemen with higher upsides begin to integrate into the NHL club.
Editorās Note: Over the next few weeks, we will be rolling out the player reviews for the San Jose Sharks. We realize there were a lot of guys rotating into and out of the lineup and some of the key depth players were traded. As a result, Fear the Fin plans to focus on the players who are 1) still with the Sharks and 2) played 20 or more games for San Jose this season.