Top Landing Spots for Blues Winger Pavel Buchnevich Amid NHL Trade Rumors

If there's a player to keep an eye on for a few reasons as we approach the NHL trade deadline, St. Louis Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich is worth the time.

Although the Blues aren't stealing headlines this season, they are in the thick of the playoff race in the Western Conference, and Buchnevich is a big reason why. He's second on the Blues in scoring with 40 points, trailing only Robert Thomas. He's tied for the team lead in goals with 17 with Thomas and rookie Jake Neighbours, and if the Blues get back to the postseason, he'll deserve a lot of credit for that.

Buchnevich has another year left on his contract beyond this one and a $5.8 million cap hit to contend with. That's not easy for the majority of teams to take on this year, and thus it makes it tricky for the Blues to move him in the first place.

Nevertheless, Blues GM Doug Armstrong is rumored to be looking to cash in on the former Ranger according to Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli.

But Buchnevich is 6'1" and nearly 200 pounds, which means he's got size and skill. With him scoring at nearly a point per game pace, it makes him a tantalizing target for serious Stanley Cup contenders looking for a piece to potentially put them over the top.

There is no shortage of potential suitors around the NHL for a player of Buchnevich's talent, and we'll take a look at a few of them to get the discussion really fired up.

The Hurricanes have been skulking about for wing help for a couple of seasons now. Any time there's talk of a scoring winger available via trade or free agency (Patrick Kane for instance), Carolina is supposedly lurking in the shadows.

It stands to reason that Carolina would be in the hunt should Pavel Buchnevich become available. After all, Teuvo Teravainen is due to be a free agent in the summer and so is two-thirds of their defensive group. That should mean Carolina will be snooping around on defense, but if Teravainen isn't likely to return, bringing in Buchnevich with an extra year to go on his contract would make a lot of sense.

Buchnevich's style of hockey would be a nice mix with the Hurricanes, which have a wide variety of talent up front with Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis, Andrei Svechnikov and Martim Nečas as well. Carolina's slow start out of the gates has them battling from behind in the Metropolitan Division, but they're now very firmly in the mix for the playoffs and should be plotting on how to finally make a truly deep run for a Stanley Cup.

The 'Canes have more pressing issues, however, if they want to make a move that helps improve them now. A phone call to St. Louis could help that out in a big way.

The Oilers are scorching hot, everything has been going well for them and they're right back where they should be in the playoff race. While they've made plays to help better their forward group (signing Connor Brown over the summer and adding Corey Perry recently), they could still use some help.

Putting Pavel Buchnevich in Edmonton would be a move that would give the Oilers definitive depth and help eliminate some questions about what they can do in the postseason.

Buchnevich can give Edmonton another forward with some ability to use his size to score goals and his get-up-and-go style would be an instant fit with the likes of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evander Kane.

The Oilers' recent run of brilliant play showed Stuart Skinner can handle business in goal and that the entire team can play sturdier defense. That's great, but using futures (picks, prospects) to acquire a player like Buchnevich would help make them far more formidable in the postseason.

It's quite the funny position the Flyers are in, isn't it?

They're firmly in the middle of the playoff race in the Metropolitan Division and aiming to not just make the playoffs, but perhaps make a little bit of a run when virtually no one expected them to do any of that this season.

Philly is also in a spot where they're having success while still rebuilding, and they're busy sorting out which players in their current lineup are going to be part of that effort moving forward. We've seen names like Scott Laughton, Sean Walker, Rasmus Ristolainen and others tossed around as guys who could wind up elsewhere.

Funny thing is, those are players who could also help the Flyers land Pavel Buchnevich to help make their forward group a bit more potent. If the Blues are going to move him by the deadline, making a "hockey trade" is the best thing for them and for the team adding Buchnevich. The Flyers can make that kind of deal happen with the players they can offer because they could help St. Louis stay in the playoff hunt right now and get the guy they're looking for.

We're suckers for a homecoming here, and Pavel Buchnevich returning to the New York Rangers would be a fun turn of events. It would also allow the Rangers to correct what wound up being a brutal trade the first time around.

Think about it. In July 2021, the Rangers sent Buchnevich to the St. Louis Blues for a 2022 second-round pick and Sammy Blais. Last February, Blais wound up back in St. Louis as part of the package New York dealt for Vladimir Tarasenko. The Buchnevich trade was a big-time loss for New York, and watching him blossom further with the Blues only served to hammer home the point.

If the Rangers were willing to part with the right players, bringing Buchnevich back to Manhattan as a nearly point-per-game player would help strengthen (and deepen) their attack.

Yes, it's great they've got Artemi Panarin. Mika Zibanejad, Vincent Trocheck and Chris Kreider, but depth will carry any team deep in the playoffs. Another guy who can help generate points like Buchnevich would go a very long way, particularly because they'll be without Filip Chytil. If it means parting ways with Kaapo Kakko to make it happen, it's something GM Chris Drury will have to consider strongly.

The Flames are in an odd place right now. They're in the Western Conference wild-card race with the Blues, but they've already made moves this season to prepare themselves for the future. Trading Nikita Zadorov and Elias Lindholm to Vancouver shows they don't seem to care about helping rivals out as long as they get what they're looking for. If they want to get into the trading pit with the Blues, that probably won't faze them.

Like we mentioned with Philadelphia, if the Blues are intent on staying in the playoff race while moving Pavel Buchnevich, making a hockey trade would go a long way to helping both sides out. The Blues want to get some blue line help and desire the likes of Noah Hanifin or Chris Tanev. That helps set the table for a Buchnevich de.al

Making a deal with a team you're in direct competition for the postseason with comes with a lot of peril. After all, if you lose the trade, there's a good chance you're going to lose out on the playoffs because of the help you've provided a rival. NHL GMs tend to be risk averse for a lot of reasons, but assisting another team in making the playoffs when you don't is quite damning.

Still, the idea of adding Buchnevich to Andrei Kuzmenko, who has coincidentally seemed to help get Jonathan Huberdeau on track, would be quite tempting.

The Penguins are in a scary place right now. They're an older team that's beyond desperate to return to the playoffs, because it's getting uncomfortably close to the time when you wonder if the next time they make it might be the last time for a few years.

Pittsburgh is somewhat stuck in a position to make sure they can do everything possible to get Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang back to the playoffs and potentially make a miracle run at one more Stanley Cup.

This motivation is why they dealt for Erik Karlsson and why they locked up Tristan Jarry long-term. The Pens also need to build up their prospect base, and dealing away high draft picks won't really help with that. Former GM Jim Rutherford damned the torpedoes and always went for it. While that worked out for two Stanley Cups, hoo boy, are we seeing the other side now, as they've got very few prospects on the way.

Any team in a "playoffs or bust" position will always seem to be better off making the big deal than not doing it, and getting Pavel Buchnevich into the mix with Crosby and Malkin up front would seem like a great idea, depending on the cost. Trouble is, making a hockey deal would be tricky, and they should be nervous about moving picks and prospects.

Buchnevich would help, but it would be only for the immediate future and would then shift pressure to GM Kyle Dubas to make sure they signed him to an extension as well.

If the Chicago Blackhawks are going to start setting things up for the next few years for Connor Bedard, adding a player like Pavel Buchnevich would certainly be a big help.

Of course, the Blues probably wouldn't be too eager to help Chicago out, but that's where what the 'Hawks can offer comes into play big-time.

Chicago has oodles of draft picks, and they've improved their prospect base quite a bit the past couple years under GM Kyle Davidson. All the desire to make this deal would come from Chicago, however, because if the Blues helped speed along the Blackhawks' process to getting back to the postseason while also undercutting their own path, it would be tantamount to malpractice for St. Louis.

The Blues and 'Hawks are rivals, and the price to help rivals should always be higher. That alone would be reason enough for Chicago to think twice about dealing for him, but Buchnevich would be a clear upgrade for their lineup (not that it wouldn't be too hard to do that), but if St. Louis decided it was a bad idea to make a deal with a rival, you couldn't blame them.

But...the allure of adding a possible high-end prospect or some great picks would be understandable. Buchnevich would fit in great with Bedard, and the Blues could flip the script and make Chicago look bad by making the most of what they got in the deal, be it picks or players.