The evolution of Pavel Buchnevich has taken on different forms across the first week of the Blues鈥 season.
There鈥檚 the obvious one of Buchnevich鈥檚 role at center, the first time he entered a season in the middle after season-ending experiments there in 2023 and 2024. But the Blues have ventured to use Buchnevich in different situations in the early going this season, and it seems to have paid off so far, with three goals and one assist in three games.
The Blues went 2-1-0 on the opening three-game trip through Seattle, San Jose and Las Vegas and will open their home schedule on Tuesday against the Wild.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 care what my goals are, whatever,鈥 Buchnevich said after a 4-3 loss to Vegas on Friday night. 鈥淲e have four points and hopefully today (we could have gotten) two more or one more, whatever. I鈥檓 just happy鈥 with the team鈥檚 start 鈥渁nd we got chances to win games. We stay in the games every time. So that鈥檚 a good sign.鈥
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Buchnevich鈥檚 move from the wing to center has resulted in a number of different responsibilities for the 29-year-old Russian forward.
Instead of facing top matchups while on the No. 1 line with Robert Thomas, Buchnevich now has the benefit of taking on lesser competition on a nightly basis. While Thomas drew Seattle鈥檚 Matty Beniers, San Jose鈥檚 Macklin Celebrini and Vegas鈥 Jack Eichel, Buchnevich was matched with players further down the lineup: Chandler Stephenson in Seattle, Alex Wennberg in San Jose and Tomas Hertl in Vegas.
That also has a trickle-down effect for Jordan Kyrou, who has been on the same line as Buchnevich. Together, Kyrou and Buchnevich are among the league leaders in the first week. Through Saturday, Kyrou was tied for first in the NHL with six points, while Buchnevich was tied for fourth with three goals.
The Blues and coach Drew Bannister also have put Buchnevich in more offensive situations to succeed. In the first three games, Buchnevich has begun a five-on-five shift in the offensive zone 14 times, compared with just four times in the defensive zone. That鈥檚 a massive shift from the past two years, when it was just a hair more offensive in each season: 165-164 in 2023-24 and 149-148 in 2022-23.
Buchnevich鈥檚 small-sample size 77.8% offensive-zone start percentage would have ranked fourth in the NHL last season (among forwards with at least 1,000 minutes at five on five), behind Artemi Panarin, Alex Ovechkin and Alexis Lafreniere and just ahead of Nathan MacKinnon.
His more offensive role hasn鈥檛 just been limited to even-strength deployment, either.
The Blues have largely stayed away from using Buchnevich on the penalty kill so far. He skated for 33 seconds while shorthanded in Seattle, and that was likely because Brayden Schenn was in the box for an interference minor. But Buchnevich hasn鈥檛 seen a shorthanded shift since then and is the eighth-most used Blues forward on the PK.
Like his usage at five on five, this is a stark contrast from what the Blues did a year ago with Buchnevich.
Buchnevich was the second-most-used forward while shorthanded in 2023-24, behind only Thomas. Most games, it was Buchnevich and Thomas (along with Nick Leddy and Colton Parayko) on the ice first to begin a penalty kill.
This season, though, the Blues have entrusted their newly added depth more with penalty-killing duties. Radek Faksa and Mathieu Joseph are arrivals who help kill penalties, as is Dylan Holloway to a lesser extent. Alexey Toropchenko is a mainstay, and Nathan Walker has taken on a bigger role on the unit.
All of that allows Bannister to use Buchnevich as soon as a PK is over, reuniting him with Thomas and Kyrou to try and take advantage of a possibly beneficial matchup. Bannister has also used the trio for offensive-zone situations (after icings or goalie stoppages) or in extra-attacker scenarios.
The Blues clearly understand what kind of player they have in Buchnevich. It鈥檚 why they trusted him so much with defensive responsibility in his first four years in St. 不良研究所导航网址 and why they believed he could make a transition to center. And St. 不良研究所导航网址 could always ask him to reprise that role as a 200-foot forward.
But as Thomas has absorbed tougher matchups at the top of the lineup (with stellar underlying numbers alongside Holloway and Jake Neighbours), the Blues have allowed Buchnevich to thrive in offensive situations.
- The Blues did not practice on Sunday and will return to the ice at 10:30 a.m. Monday at Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights.