Andre Burakovsky

André Burakovsky (also stylized as Burakowsky; born 9 February 1995) is an Austrian-born Swedish professional ice hockey forward for the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League (NHL). He had previously played for the Washington Capitals, who drafted him 23rd overall in 2013. Burakovsky won the Stanley Cup as a member of the Capitals in 2018.

Playing career

Burakovsky was selected in the third round (102nd overall) by SKA Saint Petersburg in the 2012 KHL Junior Draft, and was selected by the Capitals in the first round (23rd overall) of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.^[1]

Burakovsky made his professional debut during the 2011–12 season with the Malmö Redhawks of HockeyAllsvenskan when he was just 16 years old.^[2] He won a silver medal playing with Team Sweden at the 2012 IIHF World U18 Championships.^[3]

Washington Capitals

On 4 September 2013, Burakovsky signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Capitals.^[4] He then joined the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League for the 2013–14 season.^[5]

Burakovsky scored his first NHL goal in his NHL debut on 9 October 2014, against Dustin Tokarski of the Montreal Canadiens. He became the second-fastest Capitals player to score their first career NHL goal, and the 13th Capitals player to score in his NHL debut.^[6] In 2015–16 he appeared in 79 games, scored 17 goals, and had 21 assists.

On 22 January 2017, against the Dallas Stars, Burakovsky scored the game’s first goal for the fourth consecutive game, tying the NHL record for the most consecutive team games scoring the first goal.^[7] The last player to achieve this was Jonathan Cheechoo during the 2007–08 NHL season.^[8]

On July 4, 2017, he agreed to a 2-year, $6-million contract with the Washington Capitals.^[9] During the 2017–18 season, on 24 October 2017, Burakovsky required surgery on his thumb after it was injured in a game against the Florida Panthers and was expected to miss six to eight weeks.^[10][11] He returned to the Capitals lineup on 8 December 2017 after missing 20 games.^[12]

Burakovsky was sidelined with an injury during the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs and missed the remainder of the Capitals first round against the Columbus Blue Jackets.^[13] After missing 10 playoff games, and going pointless upon returning, Burakovsky scored two goals in Game 7 against the Tampa Bay Lightning to help send the Capitals to the 2018 Stanley Cup Finals.^[14] He admitted to hiring a sports psychologist, saying, “I think when I’m doing something bad, I’m thinking about it for a long time, and it just sits in my head. That’s something I have to work on in the summer.”^[15] Despite his struggles, Burakovsky won the Stanley Cup with the Capitals on 7 June 2018.^[16]

Colorado Avalanche

On 28 June 2019, Burakovsky was traded to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Scott Kosmachuk and a second and third-round pick in 2020.^[17] On 15 July 2019, Burakovsky agreed to his qualifying offer, accepting a one-year, $3.25 million contract with the Avalanche.^[18]

On 10 October 2020, Burakovsky signed a two-year, $9.8 million contract with the Avalanche.

Personal life

Burakovsky was born in Klagenfurt, in southern Austria where his father was playing hockey at the time, but grew up in Malmö, Sweden, his father’s hometown.^[19][20] His father is Robert Burakovsky, who was drafted 217th overall 1985 NHL Entry Draft and played 23 games with the Ottawa Senators.^[21][22] His mother is Pernilla Burakovsky.^[2][23] He has two sisters, Alexandra Burakovsky and Anna Burakovsky. He is of Russian-Jewish descent.^[24]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2010–11	Malmö Redhawks	J18		12	4	3	7	2		—	—	—	—	—
2010–11	Malmö Redhawks	J18 Allsv		15	4	6	10	4		—	—	—	—	—
2011–12	Malmö Redhawks	J18		9	6	8	14	14		4	2	4	6	0
2011–12	Malmö Redhawks	J20		42	17	25	42	43		5	1	4	5	2
2011–12	Malmö Redhawks	Allsv		10	0	1	1	0		3	0	0	0	0
2012–13	Malmö Redhawks	J18		1	2	2	4	0		—	—	—	—	—
2012–13	Malmö Redhawks	J18 Allsv		2	4	2	6	2		4	3	3	6	0
2012–13	Malmö Redhawks	J20		13	3	4	7	8		3	1	2	3	8
2012–13	Malmö Redhawks	Allsv		43	4	7	11	8		—	—	—	—	—
2013–14	Erie Otters	OHL		57	41	46	87	35		14	10	3	13	2
2014–15	Washington Capitals	NHL		53	9	13	22	10		11	2	1	3	0
2014–15	Hershey Bears	AHL		13	3	4	7	6		1	1	0	1	0
2015–16	Washington Capitals	NHL		79	17	21	38	12		12	1	0	1	6
2016–17	Washington Capitals	NHL		64	12	23	35	14		13	3	3	6	2
2017–18	Washington Capitals	NHL		56	12	13	25	27		13	2	4	6	4
2018–19	Washington Capitals	NHL		76	12	13	25	14		7	1	1	2	0
2019–20	Colorado Avalanche	NHL		58	20	25	45	22		15	7	10	17	4
NHL totals				386	82	108	190	99		71	16	19	35	16

International

Year	Team	Event	Result		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2011	Sweden	IH18			5	2	1	3	0
2012	Sweden	U17	4th		6	4	4	8	4
2012	Sweden	WJC18			6	0	3	3	0
2012	Sweden	IH18			5	3	3	6	16
2013	Sweden	WJC18	5th		5	4	1	5	4
2014	Sweden	WJC			7	3	4	7	0
2016	Sweden	WC	6th		3	1	0	1	12
Junior totals					34	16	16	32	24
Senior totals					3	1	0	1	12

Awards and honors

Award	Year
NHL
Stanley Cup (Washington Capitals)	2018	[25]