Kraken forward Andre Burakovsky to miss 6-8 weeks with an upper body injury
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – The hits keep coming for the Seattle Kraken early into their third season as an NHL franchise, as they’ve now lost a second forward to a long-term injury. Andre Burakovsky, in the second year of a five-year deal with the Kraken, will be missing approximately six to eight weeks with what is being labeled as an upper body injury suffered in the team's loss to the New York Rangers at Climate Pledge Arena back on Saturday, October 21st. After not having the Austrian born winger for the second half of last season, the hope that Burakovsky could play the entirety of this year is gone as Seattle continues to drudge forward hoping to snap out of an early season funk.
Seattle Kraken forward Andre Burakovsky’s early 2023-24 season through pictures. (Pictures by Liz Wolter)
How it happened
On a check high on Burakovsky from Rangers defenseman and team captain Jacob Trouba, the Kraken forward crumpled and went into the boards in the New York end of the ice in the second period. Going down and sliding into the boards headfirst, the Seattle forward clutched his upper body area and immediately left for the locker room, not returning for the game. Postgame, Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol stated that the injury to Burakovsky wasn’t going to be something “short term,” alluding to the fact that he was really hurt and this wasn’t going to be something he could just shake off. Burakovsky could be seen clutching the area where his collarbone would be when he initially left the ice, and while we won’t get the exact injury into likely the offseason, that’s likely what is keeping Burky out.
Seattle Kraken forward Andre Burakovsky through the 2022-23 season in pictures. (Photos by Liv Lyons)
What sort of hole does this leave for the Kraken?
Losing Burakovsky until potentially mid-December, as long as his recovery goes well and there are no setbacks for him as there were last season as he tried to return for the playoffs from that groin injury that he suffered on the first shift post-All-Star break, takes away a playmaking veteran forward that like the Kraken offense largely, has been knocking on the door on multiple scoring attempts. He was the team's leading point scorer last season before his season was effectively shut down due to a groin injury, and unless Seattle is able to get some good news in terms of an earlier return, general manager Ron Francis stated that the earliest indications were the six-to-eight-week window. Long story short, the Kraken will be without a playmaking forward that has a shot that can create chaos for opposing teams, and a veteran at that.
Most likely to be called up
While it may take a while for the Kraken to make a move to bring up another forward to fill a roster spot and provide Seattle with some form of depth, given the losses of Tanev and Burakovsky already, John Hayden is the most likely option amongst a short list of those that the team can call up from their AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds. Given his experience with the team already last season coming up as an injury replacement and his NHL experience as a whole, Hayden makes the most sense and he brings a physical aspect to the game that this team desperately needs as they’ve been bullied so far this season, especially emphasized after the loss to the Rangers where New York pushed Seattle around however they wanted to. There are a few other options, including Marian Studenic and Andrew Poturalski, but a name that some have thrown out needs to be put to rest: Shane Wright. The whole plan with last year's fourth overall selection in the entry draft, unless he showed out massively in training camp, was to send him to the AHL and have him continue to hone his game there with the Firebirds in an environment that isn’t forcing him to be a hero.
Calling Wright up now would force him to do that, produce in a way that we haven’t seen him done yet, and if the situation gets worse and Seattle keeps winning, unnecessary stress (whether on him or the team itself) is not a good situation for a prized prospect that’s growing to be in. Wright’s time will come, but it shouldn’t be now, and it should not be in this situation that the Kraken are currently in. While there is some merit to the idea that Wright would be getting real minutes with Seattle, it would more than likely be as the teams fourth-line center and create some unnecessary decisions to be made with how some of the different forwards line up. Long story short, there is a small amount of sense to Shane being called up, but too much going the other way for that move to be made.