Film Room: Andre Burakovsky's game-breaking ability

When the Avs traded for Andre Burakovsky in June of 2019, they were taking a bit of a gamble. The talented youngster was making good money coming off a season where he fell out of favor in Washington, and the Avs did give up some good value to get him, sending second and third round picks to acquire the then 24-year-old winger.

Turns out, they knew what they were doing.

Burakovsky looked a little unsure of himself in preseason, but took off once the season started, and despite only playing in 58 games, he set a career-high with goals (20), assists (25), and points (45). Beyond all that, he brought something to the Avs secondary scoring that they didn’t have in previous years: a game-breaker. The Austrian born winger showed an ability to create chances and goals by himself, something the Avs were needing beyond their top line.

In this film room, we’ll take a look at some plays created by Burakovsky’s skillset that set him apart and helped turn the Avs into a juggernaut this season.

SPINNY GOAL

We have to go back to where it all started, right? The goal that got his run with the Avs started, and gave Drew Creasman a new favorite player.

This goal truly is creating a goal out of nothing and was a sign of things to come on the year. It starts with a lost face-off where Burakovsky just simply out battles Debrusk for the puck. At that point, the Bruins defenseman is in trouble because he wasn’t ready for Burakovsky to win the battle, and Burky uses his speed to back him off.

Ultimately, his pull up move forces the defender to lose an edge, and rather than hold onto the puck, we got our first look at how dangerous Burakovsky’s shot could be. He moves towards the center of the ice a little bit and unloads, with a great screen from Donskoi, and goes post and in for his first goal with the Avs (which ended up the game-winner).

If you look at the 18-19 roster, the Avs didn’t have a secondary scorer who could create this type of goal by themselves. This was an element the Avs were missing and a role Burakovksy proved he could fill.

DEFENSE TO OFFENSE

For the second straight play, Burakovsky goes from the defensive zone to creating a chance offensively in just a matter of seconds. This is something I noticed when watching Burakovsky again, is that a lot of his plays he creates from his own end. Coaches like that.

On this play, the Avs were actually stuck in their zone for a good while, and Burakovsky uses a quick stick to poke the puck away and get it out of the zone. While the rest of his teammates actually go for a change, the winger uses his speed to just blow by Anton Stralman and beat him to the puck, despite having some ground to make up on him.

While he doesn’t score on the play, the team goes from being stuck in their own end, to a nice chance at the other end in about four seconds, and they get an offensive zone face-off out of it all. You’ll take that any day of the week.

SPEED KILLS

The Avs killed teams with speed this year, and Burakovsky was a big part of that. On this one, he hunts down the Edmonton defender to close the gap getting to the puck. When Klefbom goes to play the puck to his partner, Burky times his stick lift and creates a turnover. After carrying the puck around the net, he hits Kamenev in front, who beats Mike Smith but can’t beat the crossbar.

Burakovsky wasn’t brought in to be some heavy forechecker but showed a little more versatility than I expected this season with plays like this.

PLAYMAKING ABILITY

This play came later in the year, and you can tell by how confident Burakovsky is. After catching the pass and entering the zone, he puts the puck through his legs and throws off the defender completely. He then curls up, which he does a lot, and find the pinching Zadorov, who skates in and scores. This play is kind of funny because these two combined for a somewhat similar goal a few games prior but it was disallowed because of goalie interference.

Burakovsky’s playmaking skills surprised me at times this year. His shot is his deadliest weapon, but you can’t sleep on playmaking skills, and his speed alone forces defenders to back off, so it gives him time to create.

CONTROLLED ENTRY MONSTER

In the summer, the Avs made sure to acquire guys who could carry the puck into the zone with speed rather than dumping and chasing. Burakovsky’s metrics showed he excels at it, and the Avs pounced. This one starts with simply skating back to not allow an odd-man rush, which is something Bednar preached this year. From there, Burakovsky does his thing.

This is definitely something the Avs lacked in previous years. Although he doesn’t score, he takes a nothing play and makes something out of it, skating around two forecheckers in the neutral zone, avoiding the hit from the defenseman, and cutting to the middle for a good chance. Although the shot gets blocked, it does bounce around for Kadri to get a shot off in the corner. This is just another example of Burakovsky creating a chance for himself that wouldn’t have been there otherwise.

BAR DOWN

Burakovksy went bar down this year a lot. Probably 80% of his goals were perfect shots. This is one of my favorite goals from the year because it showed the difference between the 18-19 team and this one. There are only 1-2 other guys on the team that can do this, and both of them are top-line players.

There really isn’t much that the defender can be blamed for here other than not getting his stick on the shot. He keeps Burakovsky to the outside and doesn’t let him get into a good spot. None of that matters.

Burakovsky’s skating ability and edge work does just enough to give him a shooting lane, and he wires the puck into literally the only spot it could have gone. That’s a game-breaking skill if I’ve ever seen it.

Burakovsky is up for a contract extension this summer and is certainly going to make a good chunk of change. If he keeps creating goals out of nothing, he’ll be well worth the investment.