NEWARK, New Jersey – Kraken general manager Ron Francis said Thursday that forward Andre Burakovsky will be out “a while” and does not yet know whether a replacement will need to be acquired by the upcoming trade deadline.
Burakovsky, who leads the team in points with 39, suffered the injury while attempting a zone entry in the first period of Tuesday night’s loss to the New York Islanders. The Kraken have placed him on injured reserve and recalled forward John Hayden from the American Hockey League ahead of Thursday’s game here against the New Jersey Devils.
“He’s going to be out at least week-to-week for now,” Francis said. “If we can get him back sooner, that would be great but it will depend on how he responds to treatment. For now, it looks like it be a while.”
There was some better Kraken news Thursday when defenseman Justin Schultz was activated off the injured reserve list ahead of the Devils game. Schultz had missed the past six games with a lower body injury.
Francis would not say whether he’ll attempt to add some scoring punch to replace Burakovsky by the March 3 trade deadline. “You never know,” he said. “There are always deals out there that materialize, so we’ll just have to wait and see.”
The loss of Burakovsky, the summer’s star free agent addition from the Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche, is a blow to a Kraken team that had already slowed offensively in recent weeks after ranking among the NHL’s top scoring clubs. They’ve scored only 19 goals their past eight games following a franchise record eight-game win streak – going 3-4-1 over that span and falling out of first place in the Pacific Division.
Burakovsky, who is signed to a six-year, $27.5 million contract, had 13 goals and 26 assists before the injury. The Kraken have not specified exactly what he injured, though he did not suffer any contact before slowing down and immediately skating gingerly off the ice.