Burakovsky is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury and will not play Tuesday vs. the Kings. With Burakovsky out, Joonas Donskoi will move up to the second line and Erik Johnson will make his season debut as the seventh defenseman.
Burakovsky earns a nice raise (from $3.25M to $4.9M) after setting career-highs in goals (20), assists (25), points (45) and PPP (11). Burakovsky has found a home in Colorado's top-6, sometimes on a line with Nathan MacKinnon, so he could take his point totals to another level in 2021.
After spending four years at Brown University and one full season in the AHL, Lafferty spent most of 2020 with the Penguins, scoring six goals with seven assists (13 points) in 50 games. There were a lot of moving parts in Pittsburgh in the offseason but Lafferty should still have a spot in their bottom-6 come January.
Donato is entering the final year of a two-year deal that pays him $1.9M AAV. With the addition of Nick Bjugstad and Kirill Kaprizov coming over from the KHL, Donato was going to be a fringe roster player in Minnesota. San Jose on the other hand, is in desperate need of some middle-6 wingers. Donato was solid in his 1.5 years in Minnesota, scoring 18 goals with 21 assists (39 points) in 84 games.
Brossoit did not enjoy the same level of success in year two with the Jets but was solid enough to stay on as Connor Hellebuyck's backup for at least one more year. Brossoit went 6-7-1 with a 3.28 GAA and .895 SV% in 2020 and is now 19-13-3 with a 2.87 GAA and . 912 SV% in 40 career games (34 starts) with the Jets.
