Preview/Lines #18: Quinn Admits Sharks ‘Were Putting Too Much’ on Burroughs’s Plate

Kyle Burroughs is coming home to Vancouver.

Burroughs is still trying to find his comfort zone with the San Jose Sharks, but he’s getting there.

The 28-year-old blueliner left his hometown Canucks over the summer, signing a three-year contract with the Sharks.

Burroughs, however, was scratched for the first time this season against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday. But San Jose Sharks head coach David Quinn says Burroughs rallied against the Blues.

“I thought that was his best game [in a while],” Quinn said. “He and I talked about this, I think part of his issues over the last few weeks were, we were putting too much on his plate. That wasn’t his fault. It was the circumstances we were in.”

Before the Sharks acquired Calen Addison on Nov. 8, Burroughs was San Jose’s No. 1 power play quarterback for an extended spell, a role far beyond anything that he’s ever played. Burroughs has never been a regular on the power play in the NHL, and even in the AHL, his usage in that situation wasn’t heavy.

In fairness to the coaching staff, before Addison, the Sharks didn’t necessarily have a better option to quarterback their power play.

“We’ve toned it down a little bit for him and put him in a better position of success,” Quinn said.

On Thursday, Burroughs played 20:46, a jump over his season’s 19:31 and last year’s career-high 17:22.

But that’s with no PP time, sensible for a defender better known for physicality and penalty killing.

“That’s our job is to put every player in a position to have success. That’s what happened the other night.”

San Jose Sharks (3-13-1)

Based on Sharks lines on Saturday and Sunday, and Quinn’s morning skate comments, here are projected lines tonight:

Zetterlund-Hertl-Eklund
Duclair-Granlund-Zadina
Hoffman-Kunin-Labanc
Smith-Carpenter-MacDonald

Ferraro-Emberson
Okhotiuk-Burroughs
Addison-Rutta

Blackwood

Vancouver Canucks (12-5-1)

Here’s an early guess:

Morning skate #Canucks lines (featuring @sportsnetmurph)

Mikheyev. Pettersson. Kuzmenko.
PDG. Miller. Boeser.
Joshua. Blueger. Garland.
Höglander. Lafferty. Beauvillier.

Hughes. Hronek.
Cole. Juulsen/Friedman.
Hirose. Myers.@Sportsnet650 pic.twitter.com/Nd4xtTylRI

— Brendan Batchelor (@BatchHockey) November 20, 2023

Where to Watch

Puck drop between the San Jose Sharks and Vancouver Canucks is 7 PM PT at Rogers Arena. Watch it live on NBC Sports California. Listen to it on the Sharks Audio Network.