Robert Burakovsky

Robert Burakovsky (b. November 24th 1966 in Malmö, Sweden) is a retired professional right winger who played 22 seasons as a professional across Europe, including one season with the Ottawa Senators.

Playing Career
Burakovsky began his career in 1985-86 with Leksands IF. The young winger was drafted to the National Hockey League by the New York Rangers 217th overall of the 1985 NHL Entry Draft.

It would take almost a decade for Burakovsky to actually make it to the NHL, and his stay was short lived. After playing with Leksand, AIK IF (where in 1989-90 he became the league's top goal scorer and scorer with 28 goals and 57 points in 37 games) and Malmö IF Redhawks of the Elitserien, Burakovsky joined in 1993 the debuting Ottawa Senators. He would spend the most part of that season in the American Hockey League with the Prince Edward Island Senators, totalling 29 goals and 38 assists in only 52 games, earning him the AHL Rookie of the Year distinction. He would also play 23 games in the NHL, scoring twice and adding 3 assists.

That lone season was all what Burakovsky would play in North America. In 1994, he signed with the Klagenfurter AC in Austria; the next, he returned in Malmö for two seasons. He would then spend the following 11 years travelling all across Europe, playing in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, the SM-Liiga, the Nationalliga A and B, the Elitserien, the Allsvenskan, the Swedish Division 1, the Serie A and the Oddset Ligaen. He retired in 2004, but returned for one last season with EHC Biel of the NLA.

Personal
Burakovsky's father, Benny, (who died on December 14, 2007 at the age of 64) was a hockey coach. Robert's brother Mikael was also a professional hockey player, and Robert's son, André, was selected 23rd overall by the Washington Capitals in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.