Adam Burish doesn’t seem too distressed over getting bought out by the San Jose Sharks in June.
Speaking recently with the Chicago Tribune the 32-year-old forward said: "I'm working my tail off and I'm in the best shape I've been in in the last five years. … I'm waiting for my next chance to win another Cup and prove some people wrong."
He later added: "I think getting out of San Jose will be for the better. … I have more good years of hockey ahead of me."
The Sharks’ relationship Burish got ugly last season, the third of a four-year, $7.2 million contract he signed as a free agent on July 1, 2012. San Jose placed him on waivers and reassigned him to AHL Worcester on Nov. 23, and a report later surfaced that suggested that the Sharks never properly informed Burish of his demotion and that Doug Wilson was telling coach Todd McLellan to scratch the generally ineffective fourth liner.
Wilson responded by saying he “never once” told McLellan who should be in the lineup, and both Wilson and Burish’s agent said that Burish was well aware he was being placed on waivers.
The Sharks, meanwhile, weren’t happy with Burish’s response to getting healthy scratched in a locker room that housed several impressionable young players.
Burish concluded the 2014-15 season playing for the AHL’s Chicago Wolves after he was loaned from Worcester. He had 3 goals and 6 points in 81 games with San Jose over three seasons, battling numerous injuries. His buyout will carry a salary cap hit of $616,667 for the next two seasons, and will cost the Sharks $1,233,334 – two-thirds what Burish was due.
Burish is hoping to catch on with another team soon.
"We've had good talks with a handful of teams in the last two weeks," he said.
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As usual, the Sharks’ 2015-16 schedule will feature an abundance of long flights. According to the blog OntheForecheck.com, the Sharks will travel 50,362 miles next season – the most in the NHL. San Jose has 14 sets of back-to-back games on its schedule.
Those numbers are up slightly from last season, when the Sharks traveled 45,318 miles and had 11 back-to-backs.
Just like last season, the Sharks will knock out the bulk of their long trips in the first half, including a pair of East Coast swings in October and November and a visit to Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa in December.
After Jan. 1, the Sharks will play just three road games against the Eastern Conference – Feb. 16-19 in Tampa Bay, Florida and Carolina.
As for the team that will travel the least, the Detroit Red Wings – who shifted to the Eastern Conference two seasons ago – will fly just 33,487 miles.
