Charles Frederick Burns (February 14, 1936 – November 5, 2021) was an American-born Canadian professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

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who played 749 games in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL) with the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...

Oakland Seals The California Golden Seals were a professional ice hockey club that competed in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1967 to 1976. Based in Oakland, California, they played their home games at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena. The S ...

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have playe ...

, and

Minnesota North Stars The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the team's colors for ...

between 1958 and 1973. He later worked as the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

of Minnesota in both 1970 and 1974–75. Burns was mainly known for being an excellent skater, playmaker and defensive player who performed checking and penalty-killing. His trademark was the heavily padded helmet that he was forced to wear after suffering a serious head injury while playing junior hockey in 1954–55.

Playing career

In 1959, he was the only US-born player in the NHL. Burns was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, his family moved to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, when he was a child. Burns chose Canadian citizenship when he turned 21 and later played for the 1958 world champion

Whitby Dunlops The Whitby Dunlops are a Canadian senior ice hockey team in the team in the Allan Cup Hockey league. The team began play in 2004, and is on a leave of absence as of the 2020-21 season. Two previous teams have also played as the Whitby Dunlops. ...

Post-playing career

Burns had three spells as a player-coach, twice with the San Francisco Seals (1965–66 and 1966–67) and one with the Minnesota North Stars (1969–70). He coached the North Stars again in 1974–75 upon his active career retirement. Curiously, all of these were midseason assignments. He coached youth hockey for the Wallingford Hawks of

Wallingford, Connecticut Wallingford is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, centrally located between New Haven and Hartford, and Boston and New York City. The population was 44,396 at the 2020 census. The community was named after Wallingford, in En ...

, in his spare time. Burns died in

, on November 5, 2021, at the age of 85.Charles F. Burns
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Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Coaching record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Charlie 1936 births 2021 deaths American men's ice hockey centers American ice hockey coaches Boston Bruins players California Golden Seals coaches Canadian ice hockey centres Canadian ice hockey coaches Detroit Red Wings players Ice hockey coaches from Michigan Ice hockey people from Detroit Ice hockey people from Toronto Ice hockey player-coaches Kingston Frontenacs (EPHL) players Minnesota North Stars coaches Minnesota North Stars players New Haven Nighthawks players Oakland Seals players Ontario Hockey Association Senior A League (1890–1979) players Pittsburgh Penguins players San Francisco Seals (ice hockey) players Sportspeople from Detroit Toronto Marlboros players