Several questions about the Capitals roster next season have been answered in a report by the Washington Post’s Isabelle Khurshudyan
The Washington Capitals will qualify restricted free agent Andre Burakovsky before the 5 pm deadline Tuesday.
Khurshudyan also reports that Jakub Vrana and Christian Djoos will be tendered offers while Dmitrij Jaskin is “not expected” to receive one.
The major news is Burakovsky however. With a qualifying offer, the Swedish forward will retain his salary from last season, $3.25 million, which is higher than one would expect with his production. Burakovsky has been involved in trade rumors since last December.
“Andre had a frustrating year but I think he finished it up well,” Capitals GM Brian MacLellan said in a recent interview. “From the trade deadline on, and he had a good playoffs. We like the player. There’s been some inconsistencies there, but when he’s on his game he’s a good player. We’d like to keep him around. Obviously, his name’s out there a little bit, so we do talk to some teams on him. We’re not going to move him unless get something we feel is comfortable back.”
Last season, Burakovsky played a good chunk of games on the team’s rarely-used fourth line (leading to career-low 11:08 average ice time), and was scratched for nearly two weeks of games in December as trade rumors swirled. Burakovsky, who is in his prime, matched his output from the Capitals’ Stanley Cup-winning season, 12 goals and 13 assists, but has not taken the next step in his development.
Restricted free agents who aren’t offered a qualifying offer before 5 PM Tuesday can become unrestricted free agents on July 1.
Capitals forward Chandler Stephenson is also a restricted free agent.
