In the lead-up to round one of the NHL Draft on Friday night, the deals in Ottawa were coming fast and furious.

After re-signing defenseman Jordan Spence to a four-year deal worth $5 million per season, Senators president of hockey operations and general manager Steve Staios went out and acquired a backup goalie, getting Swedish netminder Samuel Ersson from Toronto.

Then he announced on Friday the club has acquired another Swede, forward Andre Burakovsky from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Ottawa’s sixth-round draft selection in the 2027 NHL Draft. Throw in William Eklund, who was acquired earlier in the week from San Jose, and the Senators are suddenly building Stockholm West.

“Andre adds skill and playmaking ability to our forward group,” Staios said in a club statement. “We are happy to add the pedigree of a two-time Stanley Cup champion.”

Cup pedigree is something Staios highly values. It was a thing two summers ago when the Sens signed David Perron, Michael Amadio, and Nick Cousins. It was part of why Staios added Lars Eller last summer, and it made its way into Staios' very brief explanation for why he made this deal.

Burakovsky has two Cup rings, winning with the Washington Capitals (2017-18) and the Colorado Avalanche (2021-22). He was dynamite during the Cup season with the Avs, putting up 61 regular season points.

And there's not much better than scoring an overtime goal in the Stanley Cup Final, as Burakovsky did in Game 1 of the 2022 Final.

After winning the Cup, Burakovsky signed a five-year, $27.5 million contract with the Seattle Kraken. With 39 points in his first 49 games, he was on pace for 66 points with the Kraken until a bad groin injury ended his season.

Things were never the same after that.

The following season, he was hurt early in the year after Jacob Trouba surprised him with a needless, late shove into the boards.

After some stops and starts, he came back and finished the season with the Kraken, putting up 16 pts in 49 games.

He closed out his time in Seattle with 37 points in 79 games. He then had 33 points last season in 75 games with Chicago.

So now he's 31 with 771 NHL games under his belt and coming off two fairly ordinary seasons. He brings with him a $5.5 million cap hit for 2026-27, the final year of his contract. He does have a salary that's a little lower at $3.75 million.

His numbers certainly don't jump out at you to be that effective top six guy the Sens are looking for. In essence, he's been putting up Amadio numbers for Batherson money. As with Ersson, the Sens are taking a leap of faith, and they clearly have reason to believe the player can be more in Ottawa than he's been in his other recent NHL stops.

Burakovsky was originally a first-round draft pick (23rd overall) of the Washington Capitals in the 2013 NHL Draft.

By Steve Warne
The Hockey News