Playing Career
Undrafted, Burnett played primarily in the East Coast Hockey League before signing as a free agent with the San Jose Sharks on June 2, 1998. Used solely as an enforcer, Burnett was largely a journeyman. In Burnett's minor league career, he amassed 2,562 penalty minutes for 13 different teams. In the 1999–2000 season, in only 58 games with the Kentucky Thoroughblades of the AHL, he had 506 penalty minutes.
After signing with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim on July 25, 2003, Garrett made his NHL debut in the 2003–04 season. Burnett's first career NHL goal came against Brent Johnson of the Phoenix Coyotes on March 17, 2004. The enforcer played 39 games and registered 184 penalty minutes while scoring one goal and adding two assists. Burnett participated in 22 fights in his sole NHL season with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. His reputation for having a "face of stone" was solidified in his March 19, 2004 fight against San Jose's Scott Parker, who sustained a broken hand from fighting Burnett.
Burnett signed an NHL one way contract for the 2004–05 season plus a one year option, but due to the 2004 NHL Lockout only played briefly as the player-assistant coach for the Danbury Trashers of the UHL in 2004. Burnett became a free agent and was signed by the Dallas Stars for the 2005–06 season, in which he played for minor league affiliates the Iowa Stars and Phoenix RoadRunners.
His last game played was in the Quebec-based Ligue nord-américaine de hockey (LNAH) on December 17, 2006 playing for the Summum Chiefs. The league suspended him for throwing a net at an opposing player.
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