Robert Burakovsky

Robert Burakovsky (born November 24, 1966) is a Swedish professional ice hockey coach and former player. He is the current head coach for the Malmö team in Sweden's U16 Elit league. Before turning to coaching, Burakovsky played 17 seasons of professional hockey, including 23 games in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Ottawa Senators during the 1993–94 NHL season.

Playing career He was drafted 217th overall by the New York Rangers in the 1985 NHL entry draft. He began his career in Sweden in 1985, playing in the Elitserien for Leksands IF until 1989 when he moved to AIK and then Malmö IF. He then made the move to North America when he was signed by the Ottawa Senators, but spent the majority of his spell playing for their American Hockey League affiliate the Prince Edward Island Senators, and left after just one season.

Burakovsky moved to Austria to play for Klagenfurt AC for a season before returning to Malmö in 1995. In 1997 he moved to Germany to play in their top league, the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, and played for the Kassel Huskies. Soon after he was off to Finland to play in the SM-liiga where he played for JYP and Ilves. In 1998, he signed with Swiss team SC Herisau and had his most productive year to date, scoring 38 goals and 70 points.

He later moved to HC Fribourg-Gottéron in Nationalliga A, where he led the team in points in the 1999–00 season with 49. He returned to the Elitserien in 2000 with a second spell with Leksands and a third spell in Malmö before another brief spell in Germany with the DEG Metro Stars. In 2002, he moved to the Oddset Ligaen in Denmark where he spent two seasons with Rødovre IK and then moved to Serie A in Italy, playing for HC Merano. His stay in Italy was a brief one however as he returned to Denmark in 2004 with Aalborg IK for two seasons, followed by a spell with the Herlev Hornets. He currently plays for EHC Biel in the Swiss second-tier Nationalliga B having moved from IK Pantern in Sweden's third tier during the 2007–08 season. During the late winter season 2009, he joined the team KRIF (Kallinge Ronneby IF). In 2012 Burakovsky retired from hockey.

Personal life Burakovsky is Jewish, and his father, Benny, was an ice hockey coach. Robert's brother Mikael was also a professional ice hockey player, and Robert's son, André, was selected 23rd overall by the Washington Capitals in the 2013 NHL entry draft.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1985–86 Leksands IF SEL 19 4 3 7 4 — — — — — 1986–87 Leksands IF SEL 36 21 15 36 26 — — — — — 1987–88 Leksands IF SEL 36 10 11 21 10 1 0 0 0 2 1988–89 Leksands IF SEL 40 23 20 43 44 10 6 7 13 4 1989–90 AIK SEL 37 28 29 57 32 3 0 2 2 12 1990–91 AIK SEL 30 8 15 23 26 — — — — — 1991–92 Malmö IF SEL 40 19 22 41 42 9 5 0 5 4 1992–93 Malmö IF SEL 32 8 10 18 40 6 4 4 8 9 1993–94 Ottawa Senators NHL 23 2 3 5 6 — — — — — 1993–94 PEI Senators AHL 52 29 38 67 28 — — — — — 1994–95 EC KAC AUT 28 28 36 64 40 3 2 2 4 2 1995–96 Malmö IF SEL 40 23 21 44 34 5 2 1 3 6 1996–97 Malmö IF SEL 33 19 17 36 44 — — — — — 1996–97 Kassel Huskies DEL 11 5 7 12 4 10 4 6 10 6 1997–98 Kassel Huskies DEL 17 7 6 13 0 — — — — — 1997–98 JYP SM-l 14 14 7 21 16 — — — — — 1997–98 Ilves SM-l 11 5 4 9 40 9 7 3 10 0 1998–99 HC Fribourg–Gottéron NDA 5 4 2 6 4 — — — — — 1998–99 SC Herisau SUI.2 35 38 32 70 10 — — — — — 1999–2000 HC Fribourg–Gottéron NLA 45 16 33 49 49 — — — — — 1999–2000 HC Ambrì–Piotta NLA 1 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 2000–01 Leksands IF SEL 50 17 27 44 78 9 4 4 8 4 2001–02 MIF Redhawks SEL 37 4 17 21 2 5 2 2 4 0 2001–02 DEG Metro Stars DEL 12 3 4 7 10 — — — — — SEL totals 430 184 207 391 382 48 23 20 43 41

International Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM 1986 Sweden WJC 7 1 1 2 0 Junior totals 7 1 1 2 0

Awards and honors Award YearNLB Switz NLB Player of the Year 1998–99