BUFFALO — That first-period goal tied a career-high and it is only early February. Picking up those three assists means he is one shy of tying a personal best and again, it is still just Feb. 4.
Recording a four-point performance for the best game he has enjoyed all year should have been enough. Until one realizes the wildest part in all of this is realizing those four points now means this man is officially having the strongest season of his career with the most points he has ever scored with the idea that — again — the Colorado Avalanche are just two games and four days into February.
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Merely stating Andre Burakovsky did work by finishing with four points in a 6-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center is not enough.
Andre Burakovsky once again screamed at the world he was indeed the 6-foot-3 and 201-pound juggernaut with immovable size, enticing speed and a dangerous wrist shot by extending his point streak to five games. He did this within the backdrop of joining a new team that hoped he could live up to the somewhat untapped potential that made him a first-round pick who could occupy a role the Avalanche have sought to fill for quite some time.
In. A. Contract. Year.
“He’s a good player and I think you find with young players: As you gain more and more experience, you start to understand what to do out there essentially,” Avalanche center Nazem Kadri said of his linemate. “When to use your skill. When to do it the right way and keep it safe. I think he’s starting to figure that out and can’t wait to watch what else he’s got.”
One of the challenges facing Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic and his front office staff over the last two years is finding a second line that was more than capable of supplementing a top line featuring Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. They tried addressing the problem internally by relying on young players who were not ready for those roles.
So they went into the market. They traded one of those young forwards in Alexander Kerfoot along with defenseman Tyson Barrie to the Toronto Maple Leafs in a deal that saw them get that needed second-line center in Kadri. Versatile two-way winger Joonas Donskoi came via free agency as did winger Valeri Nichushkin, who was more or less viewed as a depth option until later proving he was something more.
Burakovsky came over in a trade with a Washington Capitals team that needed to clear salary cap space while the Avalanche were seeking an option. The belief from Sakic and his staff was Burakovsky simply did not get the minutes nor the opportunities in D.C. because there was a logjam of forwards. Coming to Colorado, however, meant he would get those chances and potentially begin to fulfill some of the promise going back to when the Capitals selected him in 2013 with the 23rd pick.
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What Burakovsky has achieved to this point has made him one of the team’s most consistent players. Nine points in his first month with another 12 the next. The three he had in December created questions before he came through with another nine points to start the new year while already having six points through two games 10 days before Valentine’s Day.
Offensive production, while important, is not enough. Burakovsky has shaped himself into being a forward who can be trusted in defensive situations within a construct in which fourth-year coach Jared Bednar demands that sort of two-way accountability. He was that way when he had Kadri down the middle with Donskoi on the other flank and it has remained that way now that Nichushkin is on the other edge.
Having all this has made the Avalanche a deeper team. Possessing a winger with his size has made them a larger team. Knowing he can create for himself and others is what has made them a more prolific team.
And all of this comes with a price tag.
“He’s been unreal this year. I think he’s just hitting his stride,” MacKinnon said. “He’s a young player and he’s got so much talent and he’s figuring it out now. It doesn’t take everyone so quick. It took him a couple of years but he’s here now and he looks great.”
Burakovsky’s camp agreed to a one-year, $3.25 million contract with the Avalanche after coming off a two-year pact with the Capitals that saw him earn $3 million annually over two seasons once his entry-level deal ended.
It appears Burakovsky has placed himself in a situation to command a pay bump beyond $250,000 going into his next contract.
Yet it raises a few questions with the most pertinent being: How much and for how long?
The belief is it all depends on how Burakovsky finishes the season. He has 17 goals and 39 points through 48 games. He is on pace to score 27 goals while finishing the year with 59 points. It is understood he could command somewhere between $4 million and $5 million annually should he reach the 25-goal plateau. As for length? It is possible the club could seek to sign him to a three-or four-year pact.
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Sakic and the Avalanche already have the needed cap space to meet that potential salary range for Burakovsky. Although more money is expected to come off the books this offseason with Mark Barberio, Pavel Francouz, Matt Nieto and Colin Wilson all being unrestricted free agents. The initial belief is the team would seek to resign Francouz while Nieto’s future is a bit murkier considering there are prospects with the Colorado Eagles who could conceivably challenge for a bottom-six role within the lineup.
Moving on from Barberio and Wilson would save the team $4.05 million in an offseason that will see defenseman Samuel Girard begin his seven-year extension carrying an annual average value — or AAV — of $5 million. Even then? The money they will get back from the $2.75 million they retained in Barrie’s salary to facilitate the trade with the Maple Leafs plus the $1.5 million from the Brooks Orpik buyout are funds that will be applied toward paying Girard.
“I think I’ve been pretty well with this team. I like everyone and everyone is good to me which helps,” Burakovsky said. “I am feeling comfortable here coming to the rink every day. You’re looking forward to it. That wasn’t something I had in the past. It was not always the best time to go to the rink. This year, I’ve been wanting to go see the boys the whole time. I think that’s one of the reasons and I think tonight, our line had a good game.
“We’re taking care of the opportunities we got and when we got one, we put it in the back of the net.”
Burakovsky played more than 50 games a season with the Capitals but his minutes were kept to a minimum because there was so much depth. He averaged more than 13 minutes per game in three of his five campaigns with the team. Although last year, he received a career-low 11:08 over 76 games while replicating the 12-goal, 25-point season he had a year earlier when he accomplished those numbers in just 56 games.
This year has been a coming of age for Burakovsky.
He is averaging nearly 15 minutes per game in a top-six role while primarily getting second-team unit power-play opportunities even though Bednar has used him on the top unit from time to time this season. Burakovsky has played all but six games this season beyond the first two lines with 34 of those appearances coming in a second-line capacity next to Kadri.
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Exactly what is it like to be Burakovsky knowing he is doing all this in a contract year?
“I mean, it’s tough. When I signed, I am coming from two, three tough years in Washington and I didn’t really get the break out there that I was hoping to,” Burakovsky said. “Coming to the Avalanche, and it’s just one year, I’m not going to lie, I was nervous about it. You really don’t know what your future is going to look like. If you’re going to get another chance if I have another bad year. I was hoping to get to two years or something like that and right now? I’m kinda happy and my expectations were, I don’t really know what I was expecting.
“It was just about getting here and the coaching staff and the organization has been giving me opportunities to be successful and a little bit more of a role than what I got in Washington. Of course, I am not going to lie, I was nervous about the year and how it was going to play out.”
So — even though he is an RFA — is it safe to say the Avalanche are the team Burakovsky wants to be with?
“Yeah, absolutely,” Burakovsky said. “Since day one from when I got here, I’ve been feeling comfortable and this is a good place to be. Everyone has been extremely good to me and I was nervous getting to meet new people. Being in Washington in five years, you become really close to someone. You come to a new team and start talking to new guys and trying to find new friends and I was nervous about that too.
“But everything has been great and everyone has been great to me. This is definitely a place I want to continue to play. I love the organization and everything and it’s a great spot for me.”
(Photo: Timothy T. Ludwig / USA Today)