Andre Burakovsky is staying in the nation’s capital this holiday season.
On Monday, Washington announced it wouldn’t be releasing Burakovsky to Team Sweden for the 2015 World Junior tournament, which will take place in Toronto and Montreal from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5.
Burakovsky, 19, was the Caps’ first-round pick (23rd overall) at the 2013 NHL Entry Draft and parlayed an impressive preseason into a spot on the NHL roster. From there, the skillful Swede has further impressed, scoring 13 points in 26 games while averaging nearly 13 minutes per night.
There was some though Burakowsky might be made available for the Worlds after he was a healthy scratch recently, but that notion was shot down by the Caps and head coach Barry Trotz, who praised Burakovsky’s offensive abilities.
“He’s a good player,” Trotz said, per the Post. “He’s got one of the best releases. He’s still a good offensive player.
“He’s got to clean some details in his game, because sometimes he exposes the puck when he doesn’t need to, and he gets frustrated because he doesn’t have the puck on his stick. We’re giving him all the information and we’re asking him to process it.”
Burakovsky was a key member of last year’s silver medal-winning Swedish side, finishing with seven points in seven games.
Related: Rangers’ Duclair to play for Canada at World Juniors