The highs and lows of Andre Burakovsky's first season with the Blackhawks

The Chicago Blackhawks acquired Andre Burakovsky from the Seattle Kraken for Joe Veleno just before the draft. Veleno was bought out by the Kraken and is currently playing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with the Montreal Canadiens. Burokovsky’s tenure with the Blackhawks got off to a good start, but was derailed by injury. He became the most polarizing player on the roster, as his leash seemed the longest on the team.

Season Review

Burakovsky was put on Connor Bedard’s right wing in training camp, and he remained there for most of the season. Early on, it was easy to see why. He could get the puck through the neutral zone quickly, giving him and Beard more time on the attack.

He had his first goal and multi-point game the second night out against the Boston Bruins. He had a seven-game stretch leading out of October and into November, posting five goals and 10 points. He had seven goals and 15 points in the first 17 games of the season, putting him on pace to smash his career-best numbers. That all changed on November 20 when he was hit in the head by Ryan Lindgren of the Kraken.

Not saying this injury was the sole cause of his production dropping off, as he had assists in his first three games back, but there was a noticeable difference in his play. He had only one goal and four points over the last 37 games of the season, and yet it took Anton Frondell’s arrival to finally get head coach Jeff Blashill to take him off the top line.

“The one thing with André, I get production matters for sure, and he and I have talked about that, but it’s not like he hasn’t created chances,” Blashill said. “When we talk about what he was before, you can play the same game and create the same amount of chances, and in one stretch, they go in, and one stretch, they don’t, whether it’s him or his linemates, and it looks way different, it clouds people’s minds as to how he’s playing. That’s why I like to take the human emotion out of it and look at scoring chances for and against. It’s not an exact science, but if you trust the person keeping it, which I do, and he keeps it over and over again, it kind of tells you the story. I think his game’s been better than his production. I’ve told you guys that before, and that is whatever.”

Even through all the scoring droughts, Blashill kept bringing up the “internal analytics” and the scoring chances they said he was creating. Yes, the top line was creating chances, but not as many as they were giving up on most nights. The fans' frustration with Burakovsky’s lack of production was eventually transferred to Blashill because of his commitment to Burakovsky.

The two-time Stanley Cup winner tried to remain positive over the final couple of months of the season, but nobody needed the offseason to come more than he did.

“I’m looking at, more or less, if I’m creating chances,” he said. “There have been a lot of times where maybe I could have walked away with more. As long as I create, I feel good about myself. There’s been a lot of games where I felt really good creating chances, setting up my linemates. So, I haven’t really gotten down on myself in that way.”

Analyses & Final Grade

Season Stats

Games played: 75
Goals: 11
Assists: 22
Power-play points: 10 (3 G, 7 A)
Plus/minus: -32
Shots on goal: 86
Shot attempts: 184
Shooting percentage: 12.8
Average time on ice: 16:25
Penalty minutes: 16
Penalties drawn: 9
Blocked shots: 35
Individual scoring chances: 114
Individual high-danger chances: 51
Corsi for percentage (CF%): 51.15
Scoring chance percentage (SCF%): 51.16
High-danger chance percentage (HDCF%): 47.71

The most frustrating part of Burakovsky’s season wasn’t his lack of production during the second half; it was watching him make the same mistake over and over again. How many times did we watch skate into the zone, only to peel off and turn over the puck? How many times did we watch him try to force a pass through the middle of the ice that ended up in the back of his own net moments later? Too many. Even though he’s under contract for another year, Burakovsky likely played himself out of Chicago. The only reason his final grade isn’t lower is that he was good for the first six weeks of the season. Too bad that feels like forever ago. He gets a D.

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