Rather just sign Burakovsky for 3-3.25 x5 years than trade him for nothing. Also why is bowey scratched? Needs to play bc caps need him to become nisk replacement

I think Burakovsky is worth much more than a 4th.

We don't have the cap to do it and his production isn't worth it

We'll see what we can get for him. I contemplated a 3rd instead

You could get more like hosang or poolparty

I'd take a poolparty

In the summer, teams can exceed the cap by 10% until training camp. There's 8M of cap space to sign Burakovsky and then, if he doesn't fit after the dust settles, trade him to the highest bidder, a la MoJo. Not sure where the market lands next summer, but I think at least a high 2nd pick, maybe a late 1st.

So there's no rush to trade him if he doesn't fit. Maybe his playoff points streak was a fluke. Maybe he's just someone who thrives on pressure, and whose value doesn't show up in the regular season. Unless the offer is a better, younger prospect, or someone with significantly better playoff production, I think the Caps are fine to keep Burakovsky for one more playoff run and see if lightning strikes twice. Or if he strikes the Lightning twice, twice? Something like that.

If there's a lockout next year, what we saw with the previous lockout was that younger players who went to Europe to play that year came back great, and older players who stayed home and meant to lift weights and practice on their own never got around to it. A 23 year old Austrian-born Swede is pretty likely to go to Europe for the year and keep improving, so if there's a lockout, having traded Burakovsky for a 4th would not be nearly as good as having him come back afterward at 25, slightly improved. Obviously, the lockout played a role in the 2003 draft class appearing to hold much more talent than most nearby seasons, because it led to a lot of older guys retiring, and teams turned to their recent draft picks, some of whom stepped up. But look at the 4th round picks from 2003, and none of them were as good as Burakovsky. 22 never made the NHL. Four played 100 games: Corey Potter, Philippe Dupuis, Paul Bissonnette, Jan Hejda, and Kyle Quincey. Only Hejda and Quincey got as many career points as Burakovsky has at 23, and it took them each 600 games. The 2003 2nd round had eight players with more career points than Burakovsky has at 23, but it also had eleven players who never got any NHL points, and they're each evenly distributed throughout the round, not really top-weighted. So even if there's a lockout, trading Burakovsky for a 2nd round pick is only 1:3 likely to give the Caps more offense than just keeping him....if they have enough cap space.

If they have to trade him, they still have a pretty good team, but saying he's worth a 4th round pick is ridiculous. He's worth a late 1st, or two 2nds. Teams have guys they like right now but by the deadline, different teams will have different injuries and will have identified different needs. Also, by the deadline, Burakovsky might not be slumping, and might either be good enough to stick around in Washington, or be good enough to trade for a 1st and a prospect to a team where he can play first line, and earn himself more money.

Looking at the above cap situation, if your predictions are right on Gersich, Djoos, etc... and they look good to me (although I'd switch Stephenson and Shumakov, if Shumakov plays as expected), I'd rather play Johansen 24 minutes a night in Hershey than have him eat popcorn in Washington. That gives the Caps enough to extend Burakovsky at 3M, if he accepts. He can get more money on a qualifying offer, but we saw a few RFAs last year not get QOs and sign for less than they had been making, even with 31 teams possible. If the team is happy playing with just 22 guys, it can offer Burakovsky a one year, 3M extension, now, before it's time to qualify him, and if he signs it, great. If not, they can still decide whether to qualify him in the summer, but make it clear to him that if he signs a q.o. at 3.3M, he can put his house on the market.