The NHL Trade Deadline is tomorrow but the action has already started to heat up with seven trades over the last two days. On Tuesday the Vegas Golden Knights acquired Anthony Mantha from the Washington Capitals. Yesterday the floodgates opened with six trades starting with the Florida Panthers acquiring Vladimir Tarasenko from Ottawa for a draft pick then the Colorado Avalanche made two trades the first with the Philadelphia Flyers as they acquired Sean Walker and a draft pick for Ryan Johansen and a draft pick, Johansen was placed on waivers by the Flyers then they acquired Casey Mittelstadt from the Buffalo Sabres from Bowen Byram. The Edmonton Oilers acquired Adam Henrique, Sam Carrick, and Ty Taylorand whose an unsigned draft selection, and a draft pick for a handful of picks. The New York Rangers acquired Alex Wennberg from the Seattle Kraken for two draft picks and finally, the Vegas Golden Knights acquired Noah Hanifin in a three-team deal which saw draft picks exchanged as well as defenseman Daniil Miromanov; the deal was between Vegas, the Calgary Flames, and the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Detroit Red Wings dropped a tough one last night to the Colorado Avalanche 7-2, a game that was ugly on all sides except for the goaltending. The loss for sure wasn’t on Alex Lyon as he was left out to dry, he only played two periods and faced 40 shots in 40 minutes, and he gave up five goals. James Reimer came in for the final 20 minutes and he saw 14 shots and allowed two goals. It was just a bad night for the Red Wings who are playing without their captain as Dylan Larkin is out for two weeks, this is a crucial two weeks for the Red Wings as they currently sit in a playoff spot and are looking to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2015-16. With Detroit currently holding a playoff spot they are expected to be active this trade deadline and with the moves already flowing they may need to act quickly. They could use a forward as well as a defenseman, but one name really sticks out as a forward that they should acquire and do everything they can to get and that is Pavel Buchnevich from the St. Louis Blues. The Red Wings have a history of trading with the Blues having done five trades since 2019. The first trade was the Red Wings acquiring Robby Fabbri for Jacob De La Rose, then in 2020 they traded draft picks, in 2022 at the deadline they traded Nick Leddy and Luke Witkowski to St. Louis for Oskar Sundqvist, Jake Walman, and a draft pick that turned out to be Andrew Gibson. In the summer of 2022, the Blues traded Ville Husso to the Red Wings for a draft pick that the Blues selected Aleksanteri Kaskimaki, then finally last year the Red Wings traded Jakub Vrana to the Blues for Dylan McLaughlin and a seventh-round draft pick.
Pavel Buchnevich By The Numbers
Buchnevich was drafted in the third round of the 2013 draft by the New York Rangers. He spent the first five seasons of his career with the Rangers playing in 301 games and he put up 195 points on 79 goals and 116 assists. In the summer of 2021, the Rangers traded him to the Blues in exchange for a draft pick and Sammy Blais. With the Blues, he has played in 196 games, and he has 191 points on 80 goals and 111 assists. This season he has played in 60 games, and he has 48 points on 24 goals and 24 assists; he is a plus-eight for the Blues in 2023-24.
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Wrap Up: Trade Makes Sense
Acquiring Buchnevich makes a lot of sense, he currently plays on the top line in St. Louis with Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou but coming to the Red Wings with the talent they have they’d have a solid top three lines which with Larkin healthy may look like this
Alex DeBrincat – Dylan Larkin – Patrick Kane
David Perron – J.T. Compher – Lucas Raymond
Pavel Buchnevich – Andrew Copp – Michael Rasmussen
Robby Fabbri – Christian Fischer – Daniel Sprong
That would be a tough lineup to go against and can provide scoring on all four lines which would make Detroit one of the deepest offensive teams. The other issue to address is the defense and it’s another question to look into who is available and who could help benefit them there but the offense would undoubtedly be one of the best in the playoffs assuming the Red Wings continue their season success and get back there.
