3 reasons the Sabres must trade for Pavel Buchnevich
Buchnevich will be a top-six talent for the next half-decade
I’m never a huge fan of making a show-stopping trade for players long after they have established themselves, but Buchnevich is in a spot where he looks like he could step in and be part of this Sabres team for at least another five seasons if they acquired him. He may be heading into his age-29 campaign, but it will only be his ninth year in the league, so he’s still got a lot of miles left on his skates.
Considering how well Buchnevich has played over a trio of seasons in which he never scored fewer than 63 points as a member of the St. Louis Blues, the odds of him coming in and putting up shoddy numbers are low.
The only question that remains is where on the top-six would the Sabres put the winger should a hypothetical trade occur? It ultimately depends on which offseason moves Kevyn Adams makes, but if we kept the lineup as is, there would be a good chance Buchnevich factors in on the first line.
At this point, we need to ask ourselves whether he has more upside than the Sabres current first-line left winger, Jeff Skinner. Skinner enjoyed a couple of outstanding seasons, but he dropped off in 2023-24, and his overall consistency hasn’t been what we have seen from Buchnevich. That said, if a trade for Buchnevich occurred, he’d be a great addition to the top line while Skinner drops to the second or even the third.
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(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)