How this trade package benefits the Sabres and the Blues
Okay, so to give you an overall visual, here is what the actual trade package between the Sabres and Blues for Pavel Buchnevich would look like:
It looks like the Sabres are giving up a ton of compensation for Buchnevich, and since the Blues could see this as even more of an advantage to keep making over their lineup, it’s where Kevin Hayes hops into the picture. Hayes won 478 and 57.0 percent of his faceoffs last season, so he would give the Blue and Gold a huge help and strengthen another weakness.
Buffalo also gets potentially another top-scorer with Buchnevich coming to town, but the Blues will also benefit with what will be the No. 11 pick from the Sabres AND the No. 16 pick of their own in this draft. Noah Ostlund will find himself on NHL ice sooner than later, while Nikita Novikov is a high-end prospect on the blue line.
I also threw in Vsevolod Komarov to help further balance the deal. Sure, it looks like the Blues got quite a few prospects, a draft pick, and nothing more, but this trade isn’t too far off from the Jake Guentzel deal, except a first-round pick as opposed to what will be a second-rounder for Pittsburgh, is involved.
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)