Offseason mode has arrived and the Blackhawks are already busy, with GM Kyle Davidson making a trade early Saturday morning: trading forward Joe Veleno to Seattle for forward Andre Burakovsky.
🔔 Saturday morning trade
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) June 21, 2025
📰https://t.co/AbwI3XDkg5 pic.twitter.com/o5hDTSs7Au
Burakovsky, who turned 30 in February, is a 6-foot-3, 203-pound forward who has spent the last three seasons playing with the Kraken, tallying 37 points (10 G, 27 A) in 79 games during the 2024-25 season. A veteran of 696 NHL games, Burakovsky was a 2013 first-round pick (23rd overall) of the Washington Capitals in the 2013 NHL Draft. He played five seasons with Washington and three with Colorado, winning a Cup with each franchise, before joining the Kraken in free agency in the summer of 2022.
Burakovsky enjoyed the best production of his career while with Colorado, posting back-to-back 40-point seasons during the abbreviated 2019-20 and 2021 seasons before having his career-best season in 2021-22: 61 points (22 G, 39 A) in 80 games for the Cup-winning Avalanche. Injuries limited Burakovsky to just 49 games in the next two seasons before he got back up near the 40-point mark last season.
The salary cap motivations explain this trade. Burakovsky has two years remaining on the $27.5 million contract ($5.5 million AAV) he signed as a free agent with Seattle in 2022. Picking up Veleno — who came to the Hawks in a deadline deal earlier this year — saves them just over $3 million in cap space this season and Veleno becomes an unrestricted free agent next summer.
Burakovsky should be a little bit of an offensive boost for the Hawks, although expecting him to reclaim the 60-point version of himself seems unlikely at this point. Chicago’s offense does improve as a result of this deal, but perhaps doing the Kraken a favor by taking on that contract should’ve yielded the Hawks a little bit more of a reward, depending on who is asked.
Seattle not having to pay *anything* to get a team to take Andre Burakovsky's deal is incredible work. pic.twitter.com/NdjW5c4IcO
— dom 📈 (@domluszczyszyn) June 21, 2025