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What about Andre Burakovsky? |
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Follow me on Twitter @ToddCordell
Beyond selling rentals, one thing the New Jersey Devils can try and do in advance of the trade deadline: acquire some pieces that could help them in the long-term.
One that could very well be available is Andre Burakovsky.
His name has been tossed around as a trade piece for a while now and it seems like we could finally see something come to fruition.
Pierre LeBrun had this to say in a recent piece at The Athletic:
Teams are calling and the reigning Cup champs are certainly listening to their offers. The 23-year-old winger has fallen out of favour this season in Washington, having been scratched on multiple occasions. But he’s also a first-round pick (23rd overall in 2013) with obvious talent.
...
The tricky part, too, is that the Caps would no doubt want to replace him with a veteran, top-nine piece in their quest to repeat as champs. Getting futures in that trade doesn’t really help.
Burakovsky's counting totals are not exactly out of this world, however, that has more to do with limited ice than being inefficient. Since the beginning of 2016-17, Burakovsky has averaged 1.84 points per 60 at 5v5. That's the same total as Tyler Seguin(!) and more than Corey Perry, Max Pacioretty, Anze Kopitar, Gabriel Landeskog, and Vincent Trocheck, among many other notables.
Burakovsky's micro stats during that span are also extremely good.
There's plenty of reason to believe Burakovsky could really break out with consistent top-6 minutes, which certainly wouldn't be an issue with the Devils.
As to what they could give up, perhaps a deal centered around Marcus Johansson (with some sweeteners and, perhaps, conditional assets depending on if he re-signs) would make sense.
His tenure with the Devils has been patchy at times but he's a proven scoring forward and the Capitals know he can have success in their system and with their players. His departure was due more to financial reasons than an issue with the player.
Maybe Johansson+ would be enough, maybe it wouldn't. But it's worth making the call and finding out.
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