With the free-agent and trade markets not looking promising this past summer, the Blackhawks bet they could find the top-six forward upgrade they needed via a salary-dump deal.
While other teams battled for the few marquee players available, the Hawks acquired somebody off the radar in then-Kraken forward Andre Burakovsky, who used to be a marquee player. With a change of scenery, a clean bill of health and a sizable opportunity, they gambled on Burakovsky rediscovering his former self.
One week into the regular season, that gamble is looking wise. It’ll take more time to determine its success, but Burakovsky is off to a solid start in his 12th NHL season.
Burakovsky, 30, has two goals — including the game-winner Monday against the Mammoth — and one assist in his first four games. All three points were well-earned. And the Hawks have a 46.9% scoring-chance ratio during his five-on-five minutes, which ranks fourth among their forwards.
He has been effective as Connor Bedard’s right wing and as a flank man on the second power-play unit, which has outperformed the first unit so far.
‘‘He’s such a smart player,’’ Bedard said recently. ‘‘He’s someone who can make plays and slow the game down [or] speed it up.’’
Bedsy likes Boston, tbh. pic.twitter.com/Xb8y8euojB
— Blackhawks on CHSN (@CHSN_Blackhawks) October 9, 2025
After notching 151 points across three fruitful seasons with the Avalanche, Burakovsky mustered only 92 across three inconsistent and injury-plagued seasons with the Kraken.
But his underlying numbers, which were elite with the Avs, remained surprisingly decent with the Kraken, which likely attracted the Hawks’ attention as they searched for a buy-low target.
Burakovsky was an above-league-average player in terms of shots and shot assists (passes leading directly to shots) per minute in all three of his seasons with the Kraken, according to All Three Zones. And he really excelled with carrying the puck into the offensive zone, ranking way above the league average in terms of zone entries and carry-in percentage.
The contrast between his low shooting percentage the last two seasons (8.2%) and his stellar shooting percentage before that (14.4%) also suggested he might have been the victim of bad luck that wouldn’t last forever.
Since arriving in Chicago, Burakovsky’s ability and willingness to hold on to the puck for extended periods of time, protect it and wait for the right play to open up has been impressive. The Hawks really don’t have any other forwards who can do that as well as he can.
‘‘The poise is important,’’ coach Jeff Blashill said Tuesday. ‘‘He is calm with [the puck], and he’s done a good job of managing it. The balance on being calm is you don’t try to make something out of nothing when you run out of room, and he’s done a good job of that.’’
Burakovsky isn’t a blazer such as, say, Sam Lafferty, but he can move with speed while controlling the puck, which is considerably harder. And at his size and strength — 6-3 and 203 pounds — he’s difficult to knock off the puck with physicality.
Former Hawks forward Taylor Hall had some similar skills, but Burakovsky seems less turnover-prone than Hall was, too.
‘‘I want to be patient,’’ Burakovsky said. ‘‘It’s already kind of hard to get into the zone . . . so once we get in, I don’t want to force plays through sticks or bodies or anything. I want to hold on to it and be patient and find an open guy.
‘‘Sometimes that’s by skating a lot and sometimes that’s by just not moving a lot, depending on how [the opponents] play. But I just want to be as patient as possible and not give away the puck.’’
Burakovsky’s defensive play historically has been iffy, and he hasn’t made much impact in the Hawks’ own zone yet. But it seems he might be a bigger offensive upgrade to the roster than originally thought.
