Alex Burrows Retires From The NHL

After 13 seasons, the pest has hung up the skates

A player who was never drafted, Alex Burrows had to fight for his spot in the NHL. He didn’t stop fighting for his spot once he got there and spent the majority of his career playing on the edge to stay relevant on the Canucks roster. After spending 11+ season with the Vancouver Canucks, Pierre Dorion pulled one of the most illogical trades (after the one to come later today ;)) to bring him to the Ottawa Senators in February 2017 for one of the Sens top prospects. I will say that at the time of the trade, most Sens fan were furious with the actual trade and what we had to give up and now as he retires, this trade still makes zero sense. Burrows was never the most liked player in Ottawa, I wouldn’t say most hated either. His time here was nothing special and his playoff capabilities (while only mildly tested) were underwhelming.

Alex Burrows finishes his NHL career with 913 NHL regular season games played scoring 205 goals, 204 assists for a total of 409 points. His accumulated a total of 1134 penalty minutes which is expected for a player of his style. Personally, I always thought Burrows could’ve been a better and more serviceable player both in Vancouver and Ottawa if he didn’t focus too much on getting under everyone’s skin. His biggest playoff moment in the 85 games played has got to be his OT goal against the Chicago Blackhawks in 2011, other than that he accumulated 19 goals, 20 assists for a total of 39 points.

From a Sens perspective, this has no financial effect and frankly no emotional effect either. His buyout was what fans were waiting for as Burrows never really built a connection with the fanbase here. He will always be known as a Vancouver Canuck and it seems it is the only team he will ever identified seeing as CBC’s Jamie Long pointed out “he never changed his Twitter bio” to reflect that he was no longer playing for the Canucks.

Shortly after his retirement announcement, he was also introduced as an assistant coach with the Laval Rockets (the Habs AHL affiliate) so it seems he is not wasting time on post retirement plans. Hoping he provides younger players with the proper guidance they need at this level and that he can somehow manage to not bite any of them in the process. Good bye and good luck Alex Burrows!


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