Mailbag: Overachieving teams, Burakovsky future, Flyers goalies

Here is the Oct. 24 edition of Dan Rosen's weekly mailbag, which runs every Wednesday. If you have a question, tweet it to @drosennhl and use #OvertheBoards.

Which teams are overachieving and which ones are underachieving? -- @whoopoi
The biggest overachievers based on my preseason expectations are the Vancouver Canucks. I know it's early but I did not expect the Canucks to be anywhere near the Stanley Cup Playoff race at any point in the season, yet there they are in third place in the Pacific Division at 5-4-0. Maybe they came back to earth a bit with a 5-2 loss against the Washington Capitals on Monday, but they've defeated top teams like the Boston Bruins (2-1 in overtime), Pittsburgh Penguins (3-2 in overtime) and Tampa Bay Lightning (4-1). They defeated the Lightning and Penguins on the road. I'm not sure how long they can keep it up because their goaltending is suspect with Anders Nilsson (.914 save percentage in five starts) and Jacob Markstrom (.903 save percentage in four starts), but the Canucks have had a balanced offense (3.00 goals per game) and a strong power play (24 percent). They do need to start generating more shots on goal (25.0 per game).
I'd also put the Anaheim Ducks, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Chicago Blackhawks and Colorado Avalanche in the overachieving category.
The biggest underachievers, again based on my preseason expectations, are the Los Angeles Kings. They've struggled all over the ice, but especially in the offensive zone. They are averaging 1.89 goals per game, second to last behind only the Arizona Coyotes (1.75). Losing goalie Jonathan Quick to a lower-body injury hurt, but you can't blame him for the lack of desperation on offense.
I'd also include the San Jose Sharks, Vegas Golden Knights, St. Louis Blues, Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers as teams that have underachieved. However, Vegas has won three in a row, albeit with a power play that was last in the NHL entering Wednesday (8.3 percent; 2-for-24).

Do you think the Washington Capitals can entertain an Andre Burakovsky trade? He's underperforming and has a $3 million NHL salary cap charge. Maybe they can shore up their backup goalie position? -- @GLaSnoST9
I understand the frustration with Burakovsky's listless performance this season with zero points and seven shots on goal through eight games. I understand the question about trading the forward to free up that salary cap room and boost the backup goalie position. But I wouldn't be so quick to give up on a 23-year-old forward who has physical gifts, including size (6-foot-3, 201 pounds), and has produced in big spots in the past. If they tried to trade Burakovsky now, they'd be selling low. The Capitals don't have to get a new backup goalie yet. Pheonix Copley has played in two games, started one. He has a 4.04 goals-against average and .873 save percentage. Braden Holtby isn't much better in his seven games with a 3.46 GAA and .885 save percentage. He's allowed four or more goals in three of his seven starts. Maybe the Capitals need to help their goalies more. I'd wait, give Burakovsky some more time to see what he can do, but all the while do my homework if I was general manager Brian MacLellan to see what the market is for him. He's a restricted free agent after the season and he'd need to be qualified by the Capitals at $3 million. That could be too high of a price tag for a player who is not producing, which means Washington could risk losing him for nothing. He'd become an unrestricted free agent if they don't qualify him. That's not going to fly, so a trade might eventually be in the offing, even if it means they sell low.
How do the Philadelphia Flyers fix their goaltending mess? -- @TheMaeniac
Easy. They wait for Carter Hart and hope he lives up to his potential as Philadelphia's future No. 1 goalie. In the meantime, they hope Brian Elliott starts to put together some solid performances or that Michal Neuvirth returns healthy, plays well and stays healthy, which he hasn't done for long stretches in his career. They can't bank on Anthony Stolarz or
Calvin Pickard
finding lightning in a bottle. Hart has struggled with Lehigh Valley in the American Hockey League. He is 1-2-1 with a 4.28 GAA and .865 save percentage in four games. That's too small of a sample size to judge how close or far away Hart is from being NHL-ready.
Elliott and Neuvirth each is signed through the end of this season. Neuvirth could stay on as veteran insurance, or the Flyers could go to the free agent market to get a different veteran goalie, one with a better health history, to help bring Hart along. Either way, for this season, the Flyers may just have to live with what they have. They could try to trade for a goalie, but that market might be thin.

For a player like Detroit Red Wings forward Michael Rasmussen, would it be better to keep him in the NHL and struggle or send him back to juniors and let him dominate? -- @Rebuild\on\fly
Rasmussen has one point, an assist, in eight games. If he plays in two more games, this season will count as the first year on his three-year, entry-level contract. What it comes down to with Rasmussen, as it typically does with players like him, is if the Red Wings think he has anything left to learn from junior hockey. He isn't eligible to play in the AHL because he's 19 years old and has one year of junior eligibility left, but it can hurt a player to go back to junior if there's nothing left for him to do at that level. Rasmussen had 33 points (16 goals, 17 assists) in 14 playoff games with Tri-City of the Western Hockey League last season. To me, it doesn't make much sense for him to return to junior. It looks like that's what the Red Wings think too; the Detroit Free Press reported the Red Wings will keep him in Detroit for the time being.
Is David Pastrnak becoming the new Jaromir Jagr? -- @bonnetbeats
Our Boston-based staff writer Amalie Benjamin
wrote a terrific piece on this very subject
.
I understand why the comparison is being made -- the 22-year-old forward scores a lot of goals and he's from the Czech Republic -- but I'm not ready to compare anybody to Jagr. I like Pastrnak, love his game, his chemistry with forwards Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron, the way he generates chances and scores, but he's not the new Jagr. Pastrnak doesn't play like him or have the same build as him. However, it's reasonable to say Pastrnak is on track to become the second-best Czech skater in NHL history. Right now, that's former New Jersey Devils forward Patrik Elias.

What is your take on the Minnesota Wild? -- @TJRinger1
They've shown me a lot in the past three games. They've come back in all three after giving up the first goal. Their 5-4 overtime win against the Lightning on Saturday was especially big. They were down 3-1 after 20 minutes but came back because they generated some offense and had some finish. I wanted to see if they could build off their 3-1 win against the Stars the night before, after they scored three goals in the final 9:37 of the game, including an empty-net goal with one minute left. They struggled early against the Lightning, but they found their legs, got moving, got their offensive game going, and capitalized. They got all four lines going and scored. Good signs.
I didn't pick the Wild to make the playoffs, but I don't think they'll miss by much. They'll run hot and cold all season, as they've done in their first eight games, but if they can get secondary scoring, especially from forwards Charlie Coyle, who had a goal and an assist against the Lightning, and Nino Niederreiter, they might find their way in again. The fear is that they rode the offense they got from forwards Eric Staal and Jason Zucker last season to the playoffs and that those two wouldn't give them the same 75 goals they gave the Wild last season. I don't think they will, which is why secondary scoring is paramount for them.