Capitals Notes: Burakovsky, Draft, Kempny, Oshie

The Capitals are listening to offers on winger Andre Burakovsky, reports Brian McNally of NBC Sports Washington.  His case is one of the more intriguing ones heading into Monday’s qualifying offer deadline.  While the 24-year-old has shown flashes of top-six potential, he spent a good chunk of 2018-19 mired on the fourth line.  He has to be qualified at his salary from this past season, $3.25MM and Washington’s cap space is quite limited.  There’s no doubt that there will be teams with interest but can they be persuaded that it’s worth giving him that money or would they be better off trying to get him in free agency instead?  That will limit his trade market over these next few days.

More news around the Capitals:

• GM Brian MacLellan told reporters, including Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post, that they’re likely to draft a forward with the 25th pick tomorrow night. Washington has drafted several defenders in recent years and have a decent group of prospects on the back end but it has come at the expense of their forward group.  MacLellan indicated that unless a defenseman on the board is rated significantly higher than the next forward on their list, they’d lean towards picking the forward.
• While there was some question about whether or not defenseman Michal Kempny would be ready for training camp, MacLellan told J.J. Regan of NBC Sports Washington that he expects the blueliner to be ready when camp gets underway in September. Kempny underwent surgery in April to repair a torn hamstring, a procedure that carries a typical recovery time of four-to-six months.  Fortunately for the Caps, it appears the recovery for Kempny will be on the shorter side.  Winger T.J. Oshie (fractured clavicle) is also expected to be ready for the start of camp.