Photo: USA Today

After the Vancouver Canucks signed ex-Washington Capitals center Jay Beagle on the first day of free agency this past summer, the Canucks could bring along one of his old mates soon as they’ve inquired on Capitals forward Andre Burakovsky, according to Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston. 

Saturday Headlines with an interesting note from @reporterchris that the #Canucks have interest in Andre Burakovsky.

“His name has been out there on the trade market and one of the teams that’s inquired about him is the Vancouver Canucks.” https://t.co/Ylb2nMothQ

— Sportsnet 650 (@Sportsnet650) December 16, 2018

Burakovsky, 23, has been a healthy scratch the past three games and has posted only five goals and eight points in 29 games this season. His -5 rating is the third-worst on the Capitals.

The young Swede’s NHL career has been plagued by inconsistency and injuries. Every season, Burakovsky goes through long scoring droughts. After sitting for a few games in the press box, he usually gets hot. Unfortunately for him, after a little while, he gets hurt and misses at least a month. Burakovsky has never seemed to get any traction over his career in Washington.

He can become a restricted free agent this summer and will have to be tendered a qualifying offer of at least a $3.25 million cap hit. The Capitals may very well decide that Burakovsky’s not worth that money if they still have him at that point unless his season goes through a massive turnover… which is unlikely considering his track record.

Video: Sportsnet

Burakovsky made the team out of training camp in 2014, a year after getting drafted. He tallied four goals and 13 points in the first quarter of the season but only played in 53 games to finish the season. Though, he was the Game 4 hero in the team’s second-round series against the New York Rangers that season, where he tallied two goals.

.@reporterchris reported tonight that Vancouver has interest in Burakovsky. A scout from the Canucks was here tonight (though Burakovsky didn’t play obviously). My understanding is that, yes, teams are calling, which makes sense, but Caps aren’t going to force a trade.

— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) December 16, 2018

He posted back-to-back 35+ point seasons but after the Capitals lost forwards Justin Williams and Marcus Johansson due to salary cap constraints, Burakovsky was expected to get an even role but has not earned it. When in the lineup, he has played mostly on the third line. He was expected to play on the first line with forwards Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie entering last season.

Essentially, if something good materializes, of course they’ll listen. But it’s not like the Capitals have given up on Burakovsky. Get the feeling that they’re just hopeful his play will improve once he gets back into the lineup. Other guys have just pushed him out for now.

— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) December 16, 2018

He has missed a combined 47 games over the past three seasons because of getting scratched and being hurt/ill.

In the Capitals’ Stanley Cup run, Burakovsky was the hero in Game 7 against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Conference Final, where he tallied two goals to power the Capitals to a 4-0 victory and send them to the Stanley Cup Final.

While Burakovsky has the skillset to be a potential 30-goal scorer, he has been hard on himself whenever he goes through a long scoring drought. He met with a sports psychologist over the summer but it appears that hasn’t worked out as well as it had hoped for going into the season.

In sum: Could Burakovsky get traded? Sure. Are the Capitals desperate to deal him right now? Negative.

— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) December 16, 2018

Burakovsky could thrive in Vancouver getting more opportunity and playing with some of the best young players in the NHL including forwards Brock Boeser, Bo Horvat, and Elias Pettersson, arguably the runaway rookie of the year candidate this season. While they have some good players, he will get more opportunity than he has in Washington and could get some consistent time on their second line as opposed to the third or fourth line on the Capitals.

By Harrison Brown