Burakovsky Proving Kraken Were Wise To Go Back To The Avalanche Well

The Seattle Kraken really stumbled and failed to reach expectations in their first year as a franchise. This season has been a complete 180 as they sit fifth in the league in points with a 14-5-3 record. What has been a big part of the turnaround is the players they added in the offseason. Martin Jones is the team's starter and even though his stats aren't great, he's winning games. Other additions are Oliver Bjorkstrand, Justin Schultz, and the focus of this piece, Andre Burakovsky.

The Kraken selected Joonas Donskoi from the Colorado Avalanche in the expansion draft and he was a massive bust of a pick. He ended the 2021-22 season with just two goals and 22 points. That came after four consecutive seasons with at least 14 goals and 31 points for the Avalanche and San Jose Sharks.

This season Donskoi isn't even healthy and has a cap hit of $3.9 million. Fortunately for the Kraken he is an unrestricted free agent after the season.

As for Burakovsky, the Kraken signed him in free agency this past offseason after he won the Stanley Cup with the Avalanche. This time they hit on a former player from the Avalanche. He already has nine goals and 23 points. His nine goals is second on the team to only Jared McCann while Burakovsky leads the team in points and is playing top line minutes.

Burakovsky definitely had higher expectations coming in, but he has outperformed those expectations by a mile.