Washington Capitals: Breaking Down the Big Andre Burakovsky Trade
The Washington Capitals now have a need at the third-line right wing position. Andre Burakovsky just got traded.
NHL insider Elliotte Friedman of SportsNet reported that the Washington Capitals and Colorado Avalanche were in talks with a trade on early Friday and late in the afternoon the reality hit. Andre Burakovsky is heading west to Colorado.
In return, the Capitals will receive a second and third round pick (that was previously acquired from the Arizona Coyotes) in next years NHL Draft as well as pending AHL unrestricted free agent Scott Kosmachuk.
Although Burakovsky had his fair share of ups and downs in his five seasons in Washington, he’s an unstoppable force when he’s on his game. A team like the Avalanche, who’ve made it to the playoffs in each of the last two seasons, will benefit with the young and speedy forward. Maybe a change of scenery could help Burakovsky reach his full potential.
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On Tuesday the Capitals retained Burakovsky’s rights by extending him a qualifying offer of $3.25 million. A subject of trade rumors on both the deadline day and draft weekend, Brian MacLellan noted that he would only trade Burakovsky for a good return.
The Capitals are squared away for next year’s draft with picks in the first two rounds, two third rounders, as well as a pick each in rounds 4-6, per Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic.
There’s an interesting nugget in this detailed story on the trade from Mike Vogel of WashingtonCaps.com that explained that Burakovsky requested a trade ahead of deadline day midseason due to both a lack of playing time and a reduced role. Even the head coaching changes from Barry Trotz to Todd Reirden didn’t help the situation.
In that same story, speaking on the subject of the trade deadline, Capitals General Manager Brian MacLellan noted:
"“We pursued it at the deadline, but it would have had to be a home run then. We would have had to bring back a player at that point; to trade him for picks at the deadline didn’t make any sense when we were trying to put together a playoff run. Had the player not requested the trade, I would have preferred to keep him in that third-line role for this season.”"
Moving Burakovsky clears up $3.25 million in cap space the Capitals could use to re-sign Christian Djoos, Jakub Vrana and maybe even Brett Connolly unless the latter has too steep of an asking price.
Vrana is the bigger priority of the three and is anticipating a big raise on either a long-term deal or a short-term bridge deal. Per CapFriendly, the Capitals currently have $9,235,706 in projected cap space. Vrana will likely take just under $4 million if he signs a bridge deal (Isabelle Khurshudyan of The Washington Post, subscription required).
In five seasons with the Capitals, Burakovsky played in 328 games, scored 62 goals, and added 83 assists for 145 points. He scored in his NHL debut back on Oct. 9, 2014 and had a tally in the Game 7 loss to the Hurricanes. Burakovsky finished the 2018-19 season with 12 goals and 23 assists (25 points).
Sandwiched in between those were two memorable goals in a critical Game 7 in Tampa Bay in 2018 to send the Capitals to the Stanley Cup Final. Those are memories that Caps fans everywhere who love “Burkie” will hold near and dear to their hearts.
Next. Andre Burakovsky's 2018-19 Final Grade. dark
As for Scott Kosmachuk, he spent this past season with the Colorado Eagles (Avalanche AHL affiliate) and recorded 23 points (12 goals, 11 assists) in 54 games. He hasn’t seen NHL action since suiting up for the Winnipeg Jets in the 2015-16 season.