Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Reviewing the season of the Washington Capitals forward who gives us all hope for the future, Andre Burakovsky
The Washington Capitals had a successful season in 2014-2015. Here at Stars and Sticks, we’ll analyze each of the Washington Capitals and their season. From one winger in Troy Brouwer, we move to another in Andre Burakovsky, a key part of the next class of the Capitals’ up and coming young guns.
Washington Capitals Season Review: Andre Burakovsky
THE GOOD: After a strong season with Connor McDavid and the Erie Otters, 2013 first-round pick Andre Burakovsky came to the Washington Capitals with high hopes. The uncertainty at the second-line center slot gave him a chance to make the team, though he had never played the position before. Yet he responded to the challenge with a strong showing in the preseason, and made the team out of training camp. The Swede didn’t take long to produce, too, scoring his first NHL goal in his first pro game with his family in attendance. It was one of many unforgettable moments for the rookie this year.
Though the rookie moved up and down the Washington Capitals lineup throughout the year, his underlying numbers were quite impressive. Burakovsky posted a strong 54.6% CF at evens, despite having both good and bad line-mates. Of all the Washington Capitals players that Burakovsky played with this season, only three saw better possession numbers without him than with him.
Overall, he was +108 in on-ice Corsi, one of four Washington Capitals with a triple-digit differential. Additionally, in sixty-five shots on net, he scored on nine of them for a 13.85% shooting rate. This is an encouraging statistic — Burakovsky’s got an NHL-caliber shot, and he just needs to use it more. Playing on a consistent basis with better teammates will only help this.
After Eric Fehr went down with an upper-body injury in Game 3, Burakovsky got the call to play against the Islanders in the first round of the playoffs. Though he recorded no points in the series win, he broke out with three points in games 3 and 4 against the Rangers. He scored two goals to beat the Rangers in the latter while skating on the “Killer B’s” line.
THE BAD: The biggest issue with Andre Burakovsky was inconsistency — not solely from his play, though. While his possession numbers were stellar, he produced points sporadically, which may have been his undoing. His playing time jumped up and down as the season wore on, and this also seemed to hurt his consistency. After the rookie lost his second-line center position (largely due to allowing John Tavares to score two goals), Barry Trotz seemed to lose confidence in him, and it showed when he was demoted to the fourth line, and subsequently to Hershey for the first time.
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Yet the Swede, when called back up, was eventually tested at the first-line winger position opposite Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin. Despite strong possession numbers, the lack of production and Trotz’s penchant for veteran play over youth eventually dropped him back down to the bottom-six. The rookie was eventually sent again to Hershey to get some more playing time. This came after being subjected to healthy scratches quite regularly and the deadline trade for Curtis Glencross.
Flip-flopping between the NHL and AHL, along with moving up and down the Capitals’ lineup, hurt Burakovsky and his overall production. It was, to say the least, baffling that he didn’t secure a top-six spot despite his strong possession numbers and shot percentage. But the second-line center experiment at the beginning of the year indicated that he would be plugged in throughout the lineup to find a fit on Barry Trotz’s team. When Evgeny Kuznetsov took that from Burakovsky, it became much more difficult to secure a place for a highly skilled young winger. It’s not strange to think that the Swede’s overall numbers would have been much better had he consistently played in the top-six. But, as a rookie, he’s in a position to play there for many years to come.
FUTURE OUTLOOK: Though the point totals don’t jump out at you, Andre Burakovsky’s underlying stats leave a lot to be excited about. He was a great possession player and wasn’t overwhelmed at all, as a 19-year old rookie, playing alongside the likes of Backstrom and Ovechkin. It’s clear that he’ll eventually be a top-six mainstay for the Washington Capitals once he puts on some more muscle and continues to hone his craft. It says a lot that he made Ovechkin better, though he did make Backstrom’s even strength CF% ever so slightly worse by 0.3%.
Though Brian MacLellan still believes in the center experiment, Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov seem to be locked into the two top-six spots. Yet moulding a winger-center hybrid, which the Capitals seem to have plenty of, wouldn’t hurt for Burakovsky as long as he’s playing with high-upside teammates. Barry Trotz seems to agree with this assessment:
"Every time we’ve put him in the lineup, he’s done a fantastic job for us. And he’s still learning. He’s still learning. He’s bright. I’ve got Burt penciled in for top-six forward for the next 15 years in his career. That’s where he’s headed."
GRADING ON A CURVE: On a scale of one to ten, how would you rank Andre Burakovsky’s 2014-2015 season with the Washington Capitals relative to what you’ve come to expect from him? One represents falling very short of them, five represents barely meeting them, ten represents far exceeding them.
Next: Washington Capitals 2014-2015 Season Review