Oilers' top trade target should be Blues sniper Pavel Buchnevich
If the Edmonton Oilers are serious about making major upgrades to their forward group, they should all over trading for St. Louis Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich.
Over the last few days, reports have trickled out that the Blues might be open to moving the 28-year-old Russian. The Edmonton Journal’s Jim Matheson even reported that Edmonton is interested in the player and has been scouting him recently.
If these reports are true, the Oilers should have Buchnevich at the top of their trade deadline wishlist.
Pavel Buchnevich picks up the natural hat trick with three straight goals! 🎩🎩🎩
Hat Trick Challenge presented by @AstraZenecaUS pic.twitter.com/3h4VKYvAsy
— NHL (@NHL) February 23, 2024
Buchnevich ticks off a lot of boxes for the Oilers. He’s a dynamic top-line player with no problem scoring goals at a decent clip, and he has size, standing at 6 foot 1 and 196lbs. For a long time, Edmonton has had the requisite amount of skill in that second-line RW spot (primarily Kailer Yamamot0 over the years) but has lacked a player with the size to dictate his way around the ice. Buchnevich is that kind of player and would be a perfect complement on a line with Leon Draisaitl and Evander Kane.
Buchnevich makes more sense off the ice than Jake Guentzel does. The St. Louis sniper is signed through next season to a deal with a cap hit of $5.8 million, meaning that Buchnevich would not be a pure rental and could help the Oilers on multiple playoff runs. Oilers GM Ken Holland seems to have an affinity for acquiring players with some term, and Buchnevich fits the bill here.
A deal for Buchnevich would be expensive, but Edmonton should have the assets to get it done. A first-round pick would be involved and, considering Buchnevich is not a rental, so could defensive prospect Philip Broberg. To make salary work, selling high on a streaky Warren Foegele could be enough to push this deal over the top and make the cap work at the same time.
This type of return would mimic what the asking price was for Mattias Ekholm at last season’s deadline, which Matheson reported would probably be about the same in a Buchnevich trade.
It’s time to go for it once again in Edmonton. Though rumours are swirling that the team is looking for depth additions, the focus should be on bringing in a game-changer to help revamp the team. They did it last season, and they should also be doing it this season.
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