Andre Burakovsky, anxious to return from injury, watched today’s practice from the bench in street clothes

Andre Burakovsky hasn’t descended into the figurative darkness despite a thumb injury that will keep him out until December.

Thursday, a day ahead of the Caps’ game against defending-champion Pittsburgh, the Burracuda sat on the bench in street clothes to watch his teammates drill at the end of practice. If you ever needed evidence of how bad Andre wants to be with the team, this is it.

While out with injury, Burakovsky has been doing all he can to stay involved, watching games on TV and doing one-armed pushups.

NBC Sports Washington’s JJ Regan was the first one to notice the Swedish forward.

Burakovsky on the bench, watching the end of practice pic.twitter.com/9FB4jRzb0R

— JJ Regan (@JJReganNBCS) November 9, 2017

Burakovsky, wearing a hard cast, is on the bench talking to Djoos as practice wraps up. Burakovsky is out until December after surgery on a broken thumb. #Caps

— Tarik El-Bashir (@TarikNBCS) November 9, 2017

With several important players out with injury, the Capitals have scuffled to a record of 8-7-1 and sit one point out of the final wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference.

“another picture? don’t you have like 2 billion?”

A post shared by Alyssa (@loveburkie) on Nov 9, 2017 at 10:25am PST

Headline photo: @JJReganNBCS