Blues To Cash In On Trade Value & Move Key Player

The St. Louis Blues are somewhat in transition this season. They moved some big pieces at the deadline last season and it was a great move, but the team is neither bad enough to get a high draft pick or good enough to challenge for the Stanley Cup as is.

The Blues don't exactly have a lot of room to work with on the back-end and will need to alter their team further in the hope that this team can be built back up fairly quickly and start to compete with some of the pieces still on the roster. This may not include Pavel Buchnevich though as Frank Seravalli noted that the Blues may look to cash in on his trade value before his next contract.

The Blues have played well recently and hold eight place in the Western Conference with 58 points in 52 games, but they aren't going to be making any noise come playoff time. Since Buchnevich is a UFA at the end of next season and his trade value is strong coming off a season where he scored 26 goals and 67 points in 63 games, a real contender could look at his fairly attractive cap hit and production again this season and want him acquire the Russian for two Cup runs.

Buchnevich is paid $5.8 million AAV and can play both center and the wing. He has put up better than a point-per-game in his first two seasons with the Blues and is a top line talent who can contribute on the power play. While he is the type of player the Blues would like to keep, they may not be able to with the uncertain direction of the team. They can certainly get more than a first rounder for him and help the team in the near future if he is moved this season.