I have to say looking at stats Burns is really under rated as a complete player since most focus on the offense. Drew does everything good which makes him great, while Burns has a great shot among other things. Maybe Drew is great when it comes to his conditioning, since he can probably play about 30 minutes a game for a full season. While what I learned watching Everest type shows is a guy Burns size needs more oxygen so its tough to go as long or longer. Looking at stats I found a few things rather interesting, though I'll focus mostly on the last 3 seasons since that is when Burns has been back at Defense. Burns does seem a bit more boom/bust, aggressive, while conservatives probably would prefer Drew Doughty. Taking a bit of a deeper dive into the numbers I found a few interesting things...
1. Drew Doughty has more hits than Burns, a career high of 180, while Burns is 148. Burns only had 69 hits in his Norris year while Drew had 125. Considering their size differences I found this a reason many might prefer Drew over him.
2. Burns blocks more shots than Drew Doughty with a career high of 145 to Drew's 144, Drew had 105 Blocks in his Norris year to Burns having 142. So Brent isn't easy to shoot against with that size and reach.
3. The Giveaway/Takeaway stats might surprise many since Drew had 10 TK to 97 Giveaways almost a 1/10 ratio while Burns Norris year was 52/153 about 1 to 3 ratio of takeaways to giveaways. Burns did have a 61/65 year in Minnesota while having 45/37 his last year playing forward on the Sharks. While Drew has always had more giveaways to takeaways by a fair ratio or margin 174/667 in his career to give an idea.
4. The Corsi (EV) wasn't that different with Drew having 58.1 in his Norris year though only 55.2 this year... Burns had 54.2 this season, he has scored 57.2 compared to Drew at 58.1 rather close if anything.
5. Fenwick (EV) Burns had 54.7 beating Drew at 53.6, having a high of 57.2 compared to Drew's 57.8 which is impressive considering the style of teams they play for
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6. Burns team seems to shoot around 8.5% on Sharks or 9% when on Wild compared to Drew's 7.9 (oiSH%), it was 10.6 For Burns 1 year on the Wild too.
7. (oiSV%) is real close with a high of 93.3 for Drew compared to 93 for Burns. The PDO confuses me with Burns having a high of 103 to Drew's 101.6 when on the Wild.
8. Zone Starts are interesting Burns having 58.5/41.5 compared to Drew's career high of 56.4/43.6 which is a big jump from Burns last few years... Though he did score in the 56 range twice prior to this season. While Drew had only broken the 56 aspect once in his career.
9. I don't put much stock in +/- both have about same career high with Burns having 26 to Drew's 24 with 19 in Burns Norris year.
10. Burns has almost 500 points in 879 games compared to Drew having 362 in 688 with 92 Goals to Burns having 170. Drew does have more playoff games having 81 to Burns 64 with 51 Points to 39... He does Beat Burns having 16 Goals to his 12, even though he is a -4 to Burns being a +7. His Shooting Percentage is a 9.7% while Burns is a 5.7%, while its been 8% on the Sharks when Drew is a 6.3% in regular season.
I think if went with just stats it would make Burns better, though Drew does log about 5 more minutes of ice time while being a better player in the Post Season elevating his game if anything. Also Drew has had to play with probably worse players who drag him down or he has to carry. When have Scuderi 2.0, McNabb, Forbort, Robyn Regehr, while best player probably has been Jake Muzzin besides a few other lesser players I omitted from naming. Burns might have a bit of an edge if he is paired with Vlasic or Martin, Braun can eat up about 20 minutes which Drew don't have Voynov anymore who could take 25-30 quality minutes. Burns has really gone to a new level the last few seasons though, while being a good player longer. Drew can produce more offense though I think hie ceiling is about 15-20 goals to 60+ points while Burns I can see getting 30+ with 80 or 90 points which is amazing for not being a defensive liability or 1 dimensional... Drew probably would still be the #1 D-man/pairing if he was on the same team as Burns though to be fair to him. I think they both fit their teams better than if they were on the other team. Like Drew wouldn't be as good on the Sharks, while Burns wouldn't have much behind him as a right shot on Kings though he isn't loaded there on Sharks either... Hopefully Heed can pan out to score to help take some pressure off him. I do think Kings have had better lefty D-men overall with Muzzin, Martinez, Mitchell around their Cup teams to some of the Sharks D-men especially when Vlasic is hurt.