Sharks' Burns waits for moves, excited about DeBoer

LAS VEGAS -- San Jose Sharks defenseman Brent Burns is enjoying his summer, including a trip here to attend the 2015 NHL Awards show.

But he can't stop thinking about the future, specifically as it relates to his team.

"It's going to be an interesting next couple of weeks," Burns said Tuesday during his media availability before the Awards show on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, TVA Sports).

The Sharks missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2003 and their general manager, Doug Wilson, has implied that it will be a summer of changes in San Jose.

There are outside expectations the Sharks will be involved in what is expected to be an active trade market at the NHL Draft in Florida this weekend. San Jose owns the No. 9 pick in what is being hailed as an exceptionally deep draft and should be able to land an impact player or move the pick for additional assets.

San Jose has a fair amount of cap space, allowing it to be flexible in its approach towards upgrades.

"We'll see, they talked about adding a lot," Burns said when asked about the rumors of impending change. "We have a really good group there and we just haven't been able to pull it together for whatever reason. I felt really good with our leaders and our team. We've played with some players that will be down with the all-time legends. We just haven't been able to win."

The Sharks have won with regularity in the regular season, but have not been able to follow it up with postseason success. Earlier this spring, the Sharks and coach Todd McLellan mutually parted ways.

McLellan was replaced by Peter DeBoer, who has coached the Florida Panthers and the New Jersey Devils, taking the latter within two wins of the Stanley Cup against the Los Angeles Kings in 2012.

DeBoer was an assistant coach on McLellan's staff for Canada, which won a gold medal at the 2015 World Championship.

Burns played for Canada in that tournament and is excited about what DeBoer will bring to the Sharks

"I said before, I think Todd was a special coach and I do think he is one of the best coaches in the League and I think Pete is similar in the way that he is approachable but he still has control of the bench and you know he has control," Burns said. "He's detailed and can make those small changes throughout a game, which is huge. The most important thing is that he is approachable and he can deal with the 25 guys on the team."