As the New York Rangers continue to try and replace Pavel Buchnevich, the talented forward was busy agreeing to a six-year, $48 million contract extension with the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday.
It’s been nearly three years since the Rangers traded Buchnevich to the Blues on July 23, 2021. Since that day, Buchnevich has scored at pretty much a point-per-game pace with 206 points in 216 regular-season games and has at least 26 goals in each of his three seasons with the Blues, including an NHL career-high 30 in 2021-22. And now he’s got himself a fairly sizeable payday in St. Louis.
As for the Rangers, they’ve done quite well since that trade, with three straight 100-point seasons, a Presidents’ Trophy and two trips to the Eastern Conference Final. What they haven’t done since that trade is effectively replace Buchnevich on the line centered by Mika Zibanejad.
And some would argue that’s what’s held the Rangers back from winning the Stanley Cup.
Zibanejad and left-wing BFF Chris Kreider have put up some impressive numbers. But they simply have not been able to form consistent chemistry with any of the host of right wings that have tried to replace Buchnevich, who had excellent chemistry, especially with Zibanejad.
Frank Vatrano was the best of the lot, fitting in nicely on the top line after being acquired ahead of the 2022 trade deadline. He mixed well with Zibanejad and Kreider all the way through an exciting Stanley Cup Playoff run that ended in a six-game loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the conference final.
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