Brent Burns continues to set off red flags for San Jose Sharks

Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

The Brent Burns injury watch continues, and the San Jose Sharks are just as hush-hush as ever when it comes to the subject. Not even the journalists that cover the team on a daily basis seem to know what’s going on with San Jose’s top-line forward, but they did deliver a small little tidbit of news to the faithful yesterday.

Some skating is better than no skating and the fact that Burns is out on the ice is a positive, but this is turning into a frustrating situation to say the least. He was a big part of San Jose’s initial hot streak and posted eight points in his first eight games. Burns hasn’t laced up the skates since though.

The original report was that Burns had taken a puck to the mouth against the Calgary Flames on October 19. He went on to miss the following contest against the Detroit Red Wings with sore gums. In the game against Calgary, the puck was thought to have aggravated an issue that was caused on October 12, when Burns was hit in the teeth while playing against the Ottawa Senators.

Still, in a season where we’ve seen players yank their own teeth out while on the bench and not miss a shift more than once, Burns missing seven contests with “sore gums” seems a bit hard to believe. Again, we’re not exactly sure what’s going on because no one is talking.

At this juncture it seems safe to assume that it hasn’t been a shot to the mouth that’s kept Burns on the sideline. Especially not with the Sharks ailing up front like they are. No one has been able to plug the hole that Burns leaves while out of the lineup, so it’s likely that if he could play he would be doing so.

The sight of him in a no-contact jersey is just another red flag. Who wears a no-contact jersey for a dental issue?