The Kraken and Blackhawks have made a swap of underperforming forwards. Chicago has acquired winger Andre Burakovsky from Seattle in exchange for center Joe Veleno in a one-for-one move. Both teams have confirmed the trade.
Burakovsky became a key secondary scorer when he was acquired by Colorado back in 2019. Over three seasons with the team, he had two seasons of more than 40 points while his last one with them saw him record a career-best 61, allowing him to hit unrestricted free agency for the first time while being one of the better options available on the open market.
That helped him land a five-year, $27.5MM contract with the Kraken in 2022 and the deal has not gone particularly well thus far. The 30-year-old produced at a similar rate in 2022-23 from a points per game perspective but while he had 39 points in 49 games, missing 33 outings due to injury made for a disappointing year. 2023-24 was more of the same on the injury front as he once again missed 33 games, but to make things worse, his output fell considerably, down to just seven goals and nine assists.
This past season, Burakovsky was able to rebound a bit. For starters, he was able to play in 79 games, one shy of his career best in that regard. Meanwhile, while he didn’t get back to the type of production he had back in Colorado, he was able to chip in with 10 goals and 27 assists.
Last summer, Chicago added wingers Tyler Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teravainen in free agency, giving themselves some upgrades up front and some veterans to work with their young forward core. This move appears to follow that same idea while they’ll be taking on the final two seasons of Burakovsky’s deal at a $5.5MM price tag to make that happen.
As for Veleno, he’s on the move for the second time in a matter of months. The 25-year-old spent parts of five seasons with Detroit after being a late first-round pick by the Red Wings back in 2018 but he was moved to the Blackhawks at the trade deadline in exchange for goaltender Petr Mrazek.
This past season, Veleno played in 74 games between the two teams, notching eight goals and nine assists in a little over 12 minutes per night of playing time. It was the first time in three years that he failed to reach the 20-point mark with his career high in that regard coming in 2023-24 when he had 28. While he was a productive scorer at the junior level, Veleno has been more of a checker at the professional ranks.
Veleno has one year left on his contract at a $2.275MM cap charge and joins a center group that is starting to become a bit crowded. They already have Matty Beniers, Chandler Stephenson, and Shane Wright down the middle while Jared McCann, a natural center, is already on the wing. Top prospect Berkly Catton is expected to push for a roster spot in training camp as well. While the Kraken solved one logjam by moving out Burakovsky following the recent acquisition of Mason Marchment, they’ve created another with this move.
Speculatively, Seattle has a relatively easy way to solve it. If they’re primarily looking for cap flexibility and can’t move Veleno in the coming days, he could become a buyout candidate. Since he’s still 25, the cost of buying out that final year would only be one-third, not the standard two-thirds. That would cost the Kraken a cap charge of $795.8K next season and $295.8K in 2026-27, allowing them to effectively remove the majority of Burakovsky’s $5.5MM cost from their books. Alternatively, they could give Veleno a chance to lock down the center spot on the fourth line as he has shown himself to be useful in that role for several years now and see what happens from there. Either way, their early offseason shakeup continues.
Photos courtesy of Walter Tychnowicz (Burakovsky) and David Banks (Veleno)-Imagn Images.
Well they traded 1 of their 20 C’s and got a nice sized Winger which they really need. Will it work out? His plus minus last year is pretty good. It’s a good trade from moving something you have a lot of for something you have a little of. So let’s see.
I think Burakovski has tons of rebound potential and a team like Chicago that is barely above the floor is a perfect spot for him. The last forward to go from Seattle to Chicago worked out pretty well.
Burakovsky with the Kraken seems like he reverted to what he was for the Caps. The trick is whether the Hawks can replicate whatever voodoo the Avs had used
even Seattle Burakovsky is better than anywhere veleno
I don’t get this deal from a cap hit; Velano had 1 year left at 2.275M, Burakovsky has 2 years at 5.5M.
what’s the problem?
Chicago has tons of cap space and is getting the better player while Seattle is getting someone who can probably still play NHL minutes for a lower price tag. This tells me it’s less about Chicago and more about Seattle clearing cap space for a big swing.
The Hawks have 30 million in Cap space and another 7 million in LTIR available the day after the season starts so they don’t have the money? This move won’t stop them from doing anything. The only thing that’s weird to me is this guy seems to be a place holder and I thought they were through with those type of guys. I’d be aiming higher but I’ll hold back my opinion until it’s all over. This moves seems like it might be a Blashill input deal.
I just looked at the raw numbers; but if we look past this season.. next year the Hawks have a total of 25M on the books; so long term this makes sense. This guy is a 2 time Stanley Cup winner.. so maybe brining in more guys to show the kids how it’s done? I don’t know enough about his locker room presence to make those comments.
As long as we get McJesus next off-season, all will be okay :P
Wouldn’t hold my breath for that one.
Flaming Hot Idea:
What if they did a one-for-one Matthews for McDavid trade and the best player in the league winds up in the biggest market in the league?
Shockingly, no, I’m not a Toronto fan. If I was a Toronto fan I’d probably pitch McDavid for Knies. But it’s more of a, “Wouldn’t it be neat if?” question.
I don’t know if Seattle is clearing space for a big swing – maybe – but contray to what the article says, after shipping Gourde they were actually a center short next season. Winterton hasn’t proven he can take that step and Catton is probably going to end up on the wing if he makes the team next season. Also, for whatever reason, Burakovski has struggled to rebound after his injuries and this is a move that’s good for the player and the team.
Damn I dislike a hockey player name combined with Jesus Christ.
McSatan fits the bill!
Good move for both sides. Seattle frees up cap space and Chicago has a butt load of it so they’re going after guys who, if they can stay healthy, rebound and potentially be a good fit for a guy like Bedard on his wing.
McCann can play center, but he’s much better deployed on the wing. After the Kraken traded away Wennberg they moved him to center for a bit… not great. If Catton is actually going to be an NHL center rather than a wing, it’s unlikely that was going to be next season. Not only does this get Seattle the 4C they need, it only ties them to him for a year. There is not a logjam down the middle… yet.
Burakovsky has really good hands and he’s fast. He had a great snipe when he was with the avs. I honestly felt like no one on the kraken could keep up with him last year so all potential plays fell apart while he was looking around for a target. He was the odd man out most times. I’m glad he’s gone mainly cause he just didn’t fit the majority of the team’s skillset. He might work with the hawks. They seem to be able to ably use players the kraken couldn’t. Seems like a win-win trade to me with veleno being cheaper and in a contract year. I like that botterill’s two recent pickups have that in common.
Andre Burakovsky needed a change of scenery & Seattle sheds more cap space while taking on a bottom-six player like Joe Veleno who’s a cheaper player to roster (whether he’s used or not is another story). Burakovsky gives Chicago a potentially a solid scoring winger on a team that needs as much help as it can get. That’s if, Burakovsky can find his rhythm again like he had in Colorado which seems 50/50 at this point.