Pavel Buchnevich, who missed a quarter of last season due to what was a fluke injury/infection, has lasted all of one game plus a few minutes before hitting the shelf again in 2023-24. The injury came on an uncalled crosscheck (if not an outright cheap shot), though Craig Berube, per tradition, did not call out the heavy infraction by Seattle’s Jamie Oleksiak.
Anyway! How it happened is not our concern here. Our concern is that Buchnevich is basically the Blues’ best all-around player, and the Blues were already dealing with a thin-margin roster. Almost no one expects them to contend for the playoffs this season, but the team and its more optimistic observers think a renewed commitment (and altered approach) to defense, plus a bounce-back season by a Jordan Binnington benefiting from that approach, could be enough even in the somewhat stacked Central.
Which is why the injury to Buchnevich smarts. If you’re already riding a thin margin, losing your best player for a month (15 games or so) could be make-or-break.
Thankfully the team is not calling it long term, so it may just be a sprain or (maybe hopefully?) contusion that keeps Buch out for 1-2 weeks. In the meantime, their reconstituted scoring line needs a new defensive conscience (enter Brandon Saad), and Alex Toropchenko gets a new opportunity and reward for his energetic work on the fourth line.
Toropchenko, remember, was one of the few Blues who publicly called out the team’s effort down the stretch last season. Dude is all in. Dude is here to play.
That’s what makes him and the rest of the fourth line with Oskar Sundqvist and Jake Neighbors a formidable trio for that role. Hopefully Nikita Alexandrov does him proud moving into that slot.
Captain Schenn vs. Perplexing Kyrou
Monitoring practice on Tuesday, Jeremy Rutherford of the “we’ll kill every paper and cover every market until we don’t” Athletic (formerly of the newspaper Post-Dispatch) reported on a wee dust-up between captain Brayden Schenn and forever-maddening Jordan Kyrou.
It was probably nothing, and Rutherford didn’t make a big deal of it, but it could be a small sign of the new captain demanding more commitment and seriousness from one of the Blues’ young overpaid studs.
I know people keep harping on this to the point of nausea, but it remains true, and will define the Blues’ future: If the players commanding top salary and term on this team do not embrace the 200-foot game, they will get nowhere. This is “You need to consider all three zones, Brett” territory
Kyrou is off to a decent start, and his goal against the Kraken began with a good play by him in the defensive zone, a point he seemed to realize and highlight in the post-game. But it may be on Schenn to keep pushing Kyrou, and if this little instance is any indication, the new captain is up for the task.