When St. Louis Blues fans hear why Pavel Buchnevich wanted to re-sign with the organization, they might love him even more than they already do. When they hear why he didn’t try to force the Blues’ hand on a maximum eight-year contract, their faith in professional athletes might be restored.
Tuesday afternoon, the Blues announced a new six-year, $48 million contract ($8 million annual average value) for Buchnevich, a reasonable raise for the Russian winger and a welcome compromise for the club.
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The agreement came with one season left on the four-year, $23.2 million deal ($5.8 million AAV) that Buchnevich signed with the Blues in July 2021, when he was dealt to the team from the New York Rangers.
For months, the speculation has focused on the fact Buchnevich, 29, might want to play for an organization that’s closer to winning than the retooling Blues and that it might be unwise for the organization to hand out a contract that takes him into his late 30s.
But in the end, as Blues general manager Doug Armstrong indicated recently in an interview, there was some tug from both sides but not as much as appeared on the outside.
The club was hoping for five years, but when a few hefty long-term contracts were signed on the first day of free agency Monday, the GM agreed to six.
“There was some give and take on term and on dollars,” Armstrong said. “I’ll be honest with you: I budged. Five (years) we thought would be the sweet spot for us. I get it — he thought the sweet spot for him would’ve been eight.
“I think Buch can do this, but the actuary tables say not everyone does it. I think his hockey sense and his commitment to being a pro makes you feel very comfortable this will age as well as any of these contracts.”
Buchnevich is back home in Russia, where he’s spending time with his fiancee, Aleksandra, and their white Labrador, Deia, eight hours ahead of Central time and wasn’t available to comment Tuesday. But his agent, Todd Diamond from International Sports Advisors Co., was able to shed some light on his client’s perspective on the contract negotiations.
“Pavel has grown to like St. Louis and get comfortable with the lifestyle,” Diamond told The Athletic. “He gets along with his teammates, he gets along with his coaches, and it’s a really good two-way street of mutual respect. He feels appreciated, and that’s important to him.
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“He also wants to be on a playoff team and has a belief that Doug will do everything he can to improve the team. As much as Pavel doesn’t want to go through the retool, he doesn’t believe Doug does either. When you feel respected and believe the GM wants to win, I think all of those factors made this come together.”
A new six-year contract extension will keep Pavel Buchnevich in a Blue Note through the 2030-31 season. #stlblues
DETAILS ➡️ https://t.co/NxcNPAxEwI https://t.co/NxcNPAxEwI
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) July 2, 2024
But all of that can be the case, and if the two sides can’t come together on the terms of the deal, none of it matters.
Armstrong and newly hired GM-in-waiting Alexander Steen met with Diamond at the NHL combine in Buffalo, N.Y., in early June and got “a baseline discussion” started. They touched base a couple of times a week after that and then had a face-to-face meeting on the first day of the NHL Draft in Las Vegas on Friday.
“I would say we got in the red zone at the draft,” Diamond said. “We spoke late afternoon Monday and had an agreement in principle. Then Doug and I fine-tuned it Tuesday and Pavel gave his final approval and we got across the goal line.”
The breakdown of his new contract is as follows: $8 million in 2025-26, $6 million in 2026-27, $10 million in 2027-28, $11 million in 2028-29, $8 million in 2029-30 and $5 million in 2030-31. He received a full no-trade clause on his expiring contract and for the first four years of the new deal.
So how did the Blues get Buchnevich to agree to six years? Here’s where your faith might be restored.
“Well, age 36 is kind of where Doug has taken other players, and Pavel doesn’t have the ego to feel he needs to do something different,” Diamond said. “He also doesn’t want to be a player that is just collecting money. He wants to earn what he’s making. So if he’s still very productive and happy at 36, then we can talk about another couple of years then. But for now, that’s a number that everybody got comfortable with.”
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Buchnevich likely could have played out his final year in St. Louis and found a seven-year contract elsewhere.
“If people are kind of happy with each other and everybody doesn’t have to answer questions on a monthly, weekly or daily basis (about the contract), who needs the distraction?” Diamond said. “Pavel doesn’t want to be apart (from) the group; he wants to be part of the group. And he doesn’t want his personal business to take away from what the team is trying to accomplish.”
Those are the reasons Blues coach Drew Bannister was thrilled to hear the news about the deal Tuesday.
“Really happy for him, and it’s deserved,” Bannister said. “He’s a cornerpiece to our success and what we’re trying to do here. We believe in him and he believes in us, too, and what we’re trying to do here, so we’re excited to have him back.
“Without question, he bought into doing whatever is best for the team. Giving him that responsibility at center last year, I thought he thrived under it. Where he’s going to play next year, we haven’t really discussed that yet. We just know that he’s a big part of our team.”
In addition to Buchnevich’s extension, the Blues added three more players to their NHL roster Tuesday.
Early in the day, the team made a pair of trades, acquiring center Radek Faksa from the Dallas Stars for future considerations and right winger Mathieu Joseph from the Ottawa Senators and a third-round pick for future considerations. Neither the Stars nor Sens retained salary in the transactions.
TRADE ALERT: The Blues have acquired Radek Faksa from the Dallas Stars. #stlblues
DETAILS ➡️ https://t.co/P1oM7DtfWk
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) July 2, 2024
Faksa, 30, has been a staple in Dallas since being drafted by the Stars at No. 13 in 2012. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound forward has played 638 games with the franchise, registering 89 goals and 200 points. He’s entering the final year of his contract, which has a salary-cap hit of $3.25 million.
Joseph, 27, won a Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2021 and was traded to Ottawa in 2022. The 6-foot-1, 186-pound forward has played 360 career games and has 55 goals and 135 points. He has two years left on his contract with a cap hit of $2.95 million.
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Those two deals came on the heels of the Blues re-signing forward Kasperi Kapanen to a one-year, $1 million contract Monday and trading for former Columbus Blue Jackets forward Alexandre Texier last week, and inking him to a two-year, $4.2 million deal.
“Guys like Kapanen, Joseph, Texier, they can skate, so it certainly speeds up our bottom half and our overall depth,” Bannister said. “We’re a better team and a more aggressive team. Parts of our game, we have to be more aggressive, (but) them being able to skate and get to pucks quicker makes us a better team.
“(The size of Faksa and Joseph) was also something where we felt we have to be a harder team to play against, a team that’s stronger along the walls and stronger in front of the net. That’s something that certainly was addressed.”
Later Tuesday, the Blues signed free-agent defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph, 25, who is Mathieu’s younger brother. The 6-2, 185-pound blueliner had been with the Pittsburgh Penguins organization but was not issued a qualifying offer last weekend and became a free agent.
(Photo: Scott Rovak / NHLI via Getty Images)
