Japers’ Rink Player Card (click for a hi-res version, and a glossary of terms used in this post can be found here; data via NHL.com, war-on-ice.com, General Fanager and Stats.HockeyAnalysis.com):
Burakovsky’s Season, Game-by-Game (via HockeyViz, explained here):
Burakovsky’s HERO Chart (via Own The Puck):
Burakovsky and His Linemates:
Burakovsky’s 5v5 Teammates and Competition (via HockeyViz, explained here):
Burakovsky’s 5v5 Usage:
Burakovsky’s With-or-Without You (via HockeyViz, explained here):
Burakovsky’s Rolling Shot-Attempt (Corsi) -For Percentage:
Burakovsky’s Two Seasons (via Stats.HockeyAnalysis.com):
Key Stats: Burakovsky set career highs in games played (79), goals (17), assists (21) and points (38).
Interesting Stat: Between January 17th and February 9th the Capitals played eight games and Burakovsky had a point in each of them. He was the first Capitals players to have an eight game point streak since Nicklas Backstrom’s nine game stretch during the 2012-2013 season.
The Good: Burakovsky was a solid point producer for the Capitals during the regular season. After a very slow start Burakovsky finally turned the corner in late January when he was united with Justin Williams and Evgeny Kuznetsov. The line reshuffling led to the Capitals fielding two dynamic scoring lines for much of the second half of the year. Burakovsky would end up finishing third on the team in five-on-five P/60 and ninth in total points.
Burakovsky’s production is particularly impressive when he’s compared to his peers from the 2013 draft class; taken 23rd overall, he ranks sixth in that group in terms of goals and is tied for the ninth most points, despite only playing in the 11th most games, giving him the 8th-highest points-per-game of the lot.
During the playoffs the Capitals controlled the play while Andre Burakovsky was on the ice. He led the team in both Score-Adjusted-Corsi-For (SACF%) and in Expected-Goals-For (xGF%) throughout the first two rounds (Corsica).
The Bad: You don’t have to look too far back on this one… Burakovsky’s lack of playoff production was a big part of why the Capitals weren’t able to advance past the second round. He tallied his single goal ,and point, of the playoffs when he opened the scoring against the Penguins in Game 1 of the ECSF. Despite controlling play, Burakovsky and his line-mates simply weren’t able to score and that’s what the Capitals needed from their second “scoring line”.
Burakovsky’s lack of strength along the boards was noticeable against both the Flyers and the Penguins. Given the team’s strong scoring chance and shot attempt generation while he was on the ice it’s unlikely that his struggles are solely responsible for the lack of scoring but it’s still an area of concern. Burakovsky would be well served to work on filling out his frame this off-season.
We talked above about how Burakovsky had a great second half above… well now we have to talk about how poorly he started the year. Burakovsky had only 9 points in the first three months of the season (34 games); to put that in perspective, he was outscored by both Jay Beagle and Tom Wilson. The expectation going into the year was that Burakovsky was going to pick up where he left off, and he really didn’t. It’s fair to say that we expected more from the player we tabbed as the Capitals’ top player/prospect under the age of 25 back in September.
The GIF/Video:
The Vote: Rate Burakovsky below on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the best) based on his performance relative to his potential and your expectations for the season – if he had the best year you could have imagined him having, give him a 10; if he more or less played as you expected he would, give him a 5 or a 6; if he had the worst year you could have imagined him having, give him a 1.
The Discussion: Burakovsky played third line minutes this year, should he have been given more time to work through his struggles early in the season? Should Burakovsky take Chimera’s spot on the PP? What would it take for you to give him a “10” next year?