Blues GM wanted to keep forward in fold, feels he's an important piece moving forward after signing Buchnevich to six-year, $48 extension
Blues GM wanted to keep forward in fold, feels he's an important piece moving forward after signing Buchnevich to six-year, $48 extension
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Doug Armstrong tries not to budge when it comes to contract negotiations.
But the St. Louis Blues general manager bent this time.
At the helm for 14 seasons running the Blues, it's not uncommon for a GM to try and drive a hard bargain.
When it came to making the decision to sign forward Pavel Buchnevich to a six-year, $48 million extension that carries an $8 million average annual value, and with the Blues sticking with their plan to build from within and incorporate a younger corps of players into the lineup, Armstrong felt Buchnevich was worth keeping, even if it meant signing the player through the age of 36.
"Obviously there was some give-and-take on term and on dollars," Armstrong said. "We had talked probably the week prior to the draft. We met at the draft. I had 'Steener' involved in it. Neither side was going to budge and then we talked again on the first and did the deal on the second. I'll be honest with you, I budged."
Why?
"It became over the term. Our goal is to have the players maximize their prime, and I think 'Buch' can do this, but the actuary tables say not everyone does it. So you're looking out moving forward, and I just think that's just the cost of doing business in today's NHL.
"We're back to where we were pre-pandemic where everyone believes that the cap will continue to grow. So any look of a slight overpayment won't be an overpayment by the end of the deal. If the cap goes up $5 million a year and 'Buch' is signed for seven, at the end you're looking at a $120 million cap or $115 million cap, so it's a less effect on it. But that's the crystal ball and that's the no-pandemic outlook also."
Ideally, the Blues and Armstrong would have been tickled to death at five years, something we addressed in the video on our analysis, and the Buchnevich camp likely was looking for a seven- or eight-year term, but in order to budge on an extra year from the Blues' perspective likely meant adding on to the AAV.
"We were never at four (years). Five we thought would be the sweet-spot for us," Armstrong said. "I get it -- he thought the sweet-spot for him would've been eight, or seven (years). 'Buch' is a great guy and (Buchnevich's agent) Todd Diamond is one of the representatives I work with that it's a phone call or two, it's not 15 or 20. The goal posts start really close together. They don't start a mile apart. I enjoy working with Todd because we get deals done or we don't and we know very quickly.
"Also when you work with a player that wants to be here that met with Alex and I on what we're trying to accomplish today and tomorrow and wants to be a part of it. He loves St. Louis and I find that what's happening in the NHL today, when you find people that like your environment, you try and keep them. Free agency might start July 1st, but there might be a date in January, if the guy's not signed he's likely hitting the market, and that's changed. We were honest about that position, too. This isn't something that we were going to try and tackle next June."
Case in point, the Tampa Bay Lightning with Steven Stamkos, who bolted Florida after 16 years and signed with the Nashville Predators on Monday.
But Buchnevich, who has 206 points (83 goals, 123 assists) in 216 games spanning three seasons in St. Louis, is the next centerpiece to this next wave of players to go along with Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou at the top along with veterans Brayden Schenn and Brandon Saad.
"I think since he's been here, he's performed to the level that he felt he could perform at, and he's a point-a-game player," Armstrong said of Buchnevich. "He's a multi-positional player. We asked him about left wing-center, and his response is what you want to hear as someone that works in the hockey department: 'I don't really care, I just want to win.' If we find different centermen, he can go back to the wing. Right now, he can start at center and we can find wingers. It gives us the ability to have somebody that can play multiple positions, and he's a point producer and he touches every aspect of our game. He touches power play, penalty kill, closing out games, trying to score a goal at the end of the game. There's not an area of the game that we're not going to count on him moving forward to participate in.
"He's a skater. He's got very good hockey sense. He knows his way around the ice. He plays in the hard areas without putting himself in bad positions, and that's an art form. To be able to go and retrieve pucks and strip pucks and be the first in on the corner without being on your butt in the corner ... I just think it's his hockey sense and his commitment to being a pro makes you feel very comfortable that this will age as well as any of these contracts."
