Washington Capitals‘ 1st round pick in the 2013 draft (#23 overall) Austria-born rookie center Andre’ Burakovsky(15) may be spending most of his playing time with affiliate Hershey Bears heading down the stretch towards the postseason.
Although he’s skated in 50 games with the parent club, scored his first NHL in his debut and has a very decent 9 goals and 13 assists with a +12 rating, he’s also been a healthy scratch on many occasions as he develops.
The fairly big 6’3″ 198 lbs. power forward may be mostly squeezed out of his spot with the big club but considering he doesn’t have to go through waivers and seems to excel once reinserted into the lineup is likely first on the list to go back up.
He already had one full season’s experience in Sweden’s tier two Allsvenskan with Malmo (where he played most of his junior hockey) and even played 10 games with the team in 2011/2012 as a 16/17-year old, when he signed his entry level deal that extends through 2017.
Although his contract was set, it was decided to send him to Erie Otters much against his will to make sure their prospect was ready.
Scoring 41 goals and 47 assists in 57 OHL games he easily proved he was too skilled to be playing at the junior level.
The 20-year old posted his first AHL goal, an overtime game-winner, in his 6th game to go along with his one assist but will need to continue to dig hard to prove he’s ready for prime time.