The final Swede on the Capitals’ roster joined the team Wednesday morning at Kettler Capitals Iceplex. Andre Burakovsky enters his fourth season in the league and is determined to make a mark and step up as a leader. All but three players have partaken in the preliminary skates thus far. Lars Eller, Jay Beagle, and Devante Smith-Pelly have yet to be seen. T.J. Oshie wasn’t skating Wednesday morning due to participating in an NHL Media Tour in New York.
Andre Burakovsky is back and he’s already flying all over the ice pic.twitter.com/0RX9fnpwm6
— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) September 6, 2017
Burakovsky was flying all over the ice this morning, especially in these quick give-and-go drills. This is how the session began, which was relatively shorter than most preliminary skates. The rest of the morning was filled with full rink, scrimmage-like, work as the team looks to be in game-shape with the first preseason game on the horizon.
Last season Burakovsky scored 12 goals and added 23 assists for 35 points in 64 games played. Burakovsky got off to a slow start following a two-goal Opening Night performance in Pittsburgh. Once he picked his game back up in mid-December, Burakovsky injured his hand back in February on his birthday.
Burakovsky served most of last season on the third-line before switching places with Alex Ovechkin in the second round of the playoffs when the Caps were facing a 3-1 series deficit against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Moving Burakovsky to the top-line would pay dividends, as he scored a goal in Game 5 and two more in Game 6 to force a decisive Game 7.
Fresh off of signing a new contract in early July to be a Washington Capital for the next two years, Burakovsky hopes to have a consistent season as he is most likely going to be on the second-line with Jakub Vrana and Evgeny Kuznetsov (or Nicklas Backstrom).
By Michael Marzzacco
Follow @marswaggo
Dre needs a full, consistent season. 20 goals would be a good target for him.
Burakovsky is a stud. I think he can score at least 20-25 goals this season.