http://www.freep.com/article/20130805/SPORTS05/308050156/

Shawn Burr, whose upbeat personality made him a fan and teammate favorite during his time with the Detroit Red Wings, has died. He was 47.

Burr had battled cancer in recent years but died about 7 p.m. Monday after a fall down the stairs earlier in the day at his home in St. Clair that caused massive brain trauma, according to Dave Goetze, who runs the Shawn Burr Foundation. Goetze said the decision was made to remove him from life support after he was given a poor prognosis.

Kris Draper played only a couple of seasons with Burr but said anyone that was around Burr had a good time.

“If you were in the same room with him, you knew you were going to laugh, and you knew it wasn’t going to be quiet,” Draper said. “He was definitely a guy that had a lot to say, talked a lot, had some unreal one-liners. Very quick, very witty. Just a great guy to be around. I probably saw him more in our golf tournaments than I did playing with him.

“It’s a big loss for the hockey community. The sad thing is we all know he was sick and he was battling cancer. From the sounds of it, it was something that wasn’t related to the cancer that he was fighting.”

Chris Osgood overlapped with Burr during Burr's last seasons with the Wings and remembers a guy who never stopped talking — nor laughing.

"He was a funny guy, a nonstop talker, always had a trick to play," Osgood said. "My first game as a rookie, he put my name upside down on my jersey. He was the guy in the ’90s who kept everybody else relaxed. He did the dirty work for the team on the ice and then kept the guys relaxed in the dressing room."

Burr was drafted by the Wings seventh overall in 1984, debuting with them the following season. He would go on to play 16 years in the NHL, completing his career with the Tampa Bay Lighting and San Jose Sharks. He produced 181 goals and 259 assists for 440 points in 878 games. His larger-than-life personality shone through in interviews and on the ice. After departing the Wings after the 1994-95 season — which saw the Wings go all the way to the Stanley Cup finals — Burr went from Tampa Bay to San Jose and back to the Lightning for one last go-around, in 1999-2000.

He returned to the Detroit area to live, joining the Wings' alumni association. The quality of the games may have changed, but Burr's personality hadn't.

"I know some of the other guys on the alumni team, they told me he'd sit in the dressing room and talk nonstop," Osgood said. "Then he'd take a shift on the ice, and when he was done with it, talk again.

"He had a lot, a lot of energy. He always had something going on."

Burr was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in February 2011 and underwent treatment, including chemotherapy. He eventually underwent a bone marrow transplant operation, came through it and beat the cancer back.

Keith Gave, a former Red Wings beat writer for the Detroit Free Press, said Burr was someone to whom teammates and media members gravitated in the locker room.

“It’s devastating news to me,” Gave said. “Shawn Burr was not only a fun guy to watch play hockey, but he was one of the finest people I ever met.

“In the dressing room, he made us laugh and he made us cry. He was the kid in the corner in tears at the end of every season when they got knocked out of the playoffs. Most of all, he made the game fun for everybody. He shared the experiences with everybody. His teammates tolerated him because he talked to so much, and opponents hated him. He was a Claude Lemieux-type.

“In the end, probably talked his way out of Detroit. He talked too much for Scotty Bowman’s liking. He always had a crowd of media around him because he talked and he spoke well. I would compare him a little bit to Kris Draper. He was one of those guys you gravitated to.”

Gave said Burr always had a few new jokes to tell on a daily basis after practice.

Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill played with Burr on the Red Wings and remembered him being a fun-loving guy.

“Just full of life,” Nill said. “He was always talking in the dressing room. Character guy. Always had a smile on his face. Just a good man.”

Donations or memorials can be made to the Shawn Burr Foundation, P.O. Box 610812, Port Huron, MI 48061.

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