good for both sides

Funny when I made my Saad for Bura swap idea it first started out as a Athanasiou for Bura swap but figured people would get pissed about it. I'd do that trade.

I think the value's correct, but one of the biggest problems this team has right now is winning face-offs. I'd rather get a player that can help there, rather than AA who has a career 41% FO rate.

I like the stats of Athanasiou. Looks like a young Eller, and to have a second Eller for your 4C would be pretty tasty. However, as staytru20 pointed out, his career FO% is horrible. Caps already have issues there.

Plus, the Caps would be giving up 2/3rds of their third line when their forward depth is already questionable. Wilson comes back sometime next month (hopefully sooner rather than later), but this trade would destroy the third line for this year. The Caps are mostly in a win now mode and this move is not a win now move.

Unless Stephenson can move to the third line and Shumakov is able to move into the third line as well, but he doesn't seem quite ready yet. A third line of Shumavok-Eller-Stephenson with Athanasiou centering the fourth line with Jaskin and Walker might be really nice actually.

A.A. got so much love on this page last year.... but here are some stats where Burakovsky is equal to or better than AA: age, zone starts, career goals, career assists, career points, corsi, single season even strength goals, career even strength goals, career corsi relative to teammates of +3.8% on a good team vs -.18% on a bad team.

Can anyone name something Athanasiou does better than Burakovsky, besides get power play time? I must be missing it. Burakovsky's playing extremely defensive minutes this season and is off to a weak start through an insignificant sample size. He got six even strength points in the last six games of the playoffs. I'm not ready to give up on him just yet.

Connolly for a 2nd and a 5th is good value, but with Shumakov injured there's no rush to get rid of depth. Detroit aren't buying this early in the season, while they've got eight guys on LTIR and another 22 on their roster.

I agree that Burakovsky is slightly underutilized in Washington, and off to a weak start. But he is so massively underrated by Caps fans that I get skeptical just seeing him mentioned on here.

Appreciate the feeback, what would you think about the Caps trading a package including/just Burakosvky for Zuccarello or a similarly skilled player who's deal expires this summer

I think they should sign Burakovsky for six more years at 3.5M, or eight years at 4M.

I'm cynical about how much the Caps can change their chances of repeating by upgrading Burakovsky, who was one of their top scorers in the SCF and one of their best clutch scorers in the ECF, so I think they should keep him around for several years rather than rent an older, more expensive guy with a lower ceiling. Obviously there are some numbers that say Burakovsky is just a third line guy, but that's been in a third line role.

If they want to trade him, they need to put him on the top line for the rest of WIlson's suspension and get him ten goals, so he's worth something. They're not, though. They're playing him with Eller, in less than 40% offensive zone starts. To me that says they're thinking contract extension and not trying to make it too easy for him to get big money. I think he has underperformed his current deal slightly, but at 23 they probably expect him to keep improving and start playing like a top six forward soon. If they can get him locked in at 4M or less, then they should move him back into a top six role, when an opportunity comes up, and get him a 20 goal year or two. I don't think Burakovsky is the level of talent that drives a top line, but he's complimentary top six skill guy, who produces at the same rate as Connolly or Wilson.

I was on here last Spring arguing against trading Burakovsky for Evander Kane, just based on age, contract status, and even strength goal totals, so Mats Zuccarello doesn't move the needle. But I'm thinking long term. I think the Caps are enough of a contender to have a coin toss of a chance against Pitt, TB, TOR, or a different team on a hot streak. Adding a blue chip wing with a lot of top six and power play experience might raise those odds by two or three percent for one year while you have them, but then not having Burakovsky drops those odds by 2% for each year of the next decade, so I'd just shrug and sign him to a cheap extension while his value is low.