Sharks mercifully waive Adam Burish

Adam Burish is not a NHL-caliber hockey player and hasn’t been for a very long time. The Sharks appear to have finally come to this conclusion, placing the forward they signed to an inexplicable 4-year, $7.4 million contract back in 2012 on waivers this morning.

In 87 career regular season and playoff games with the Sharks, Burish tallied two goals and four assists while the team got bludgeoned in terms of puck possession and goal difference when he was on the ice, even relative to some of the other fairly mediocre fourth-line options the Sharks have had at their disposal over the past few years. So far this season, San Jose has been outshot by a 2:1 ratio and outscored by a 3:1 ratio with Burish on the ice at even-strength. He also took nine minor penalties in just over 220 minutes of ice time; the next-closest forward is Tommy Wingels with five penalties in around 370 minutes.

All of this is to say that it’s great, if long past due, news that the Adam Burish Era appears to be over in San Jose especially since the coaching staff routinely continued to place him in the lineup over superior forwards like Barclay Goodrow and Tye McGinn. Burish’s imminent replacement in Mike Brown, who appears to be set to come off long-term injured reserve which necessitated this move, isn’t much better but at the very least the Sharks won’t have two of these guys on their roster. It will be interesting to see what happens if some other team isn’t stupid enough to claim Burish off waivers; it’s unlikely ownership is interested in paying him a pro-rated $1.85 million through the rest of the season and the full ticket next year to play in Worcester. At that point Doug Wilson would probably have to make a trade where he takes back another unsavory deal like the Canadiens did when Rene Bourque passed through waivers unclaimed.