Pavel Buchnevich’s trade was the requested Rangers plan

Right from the start, let’s make it clear that the prospect of trading your front row right winger for a last-six guy and a second-round draft pick won’t be an easy sell. This is simply not the case, regardless of the mitigating factors surrounding it.

So Rangers’ Chris Drury will endure the heat for his first player-for-player trade as NHL general manager, in which he sent Pavel Buchnevich to the Blues for Sammy Blais and a 2022 second-round pick in Friday in the hours before the first round of the draft. there is no doubt.

It’s fair to say that Buchnevich last season became the player the Rangers had been waiting for since arriving in New York City in September 2016. He played courageously, was diligent without the puck, became a top penalty killer and for most of them. some lost the unkindly unpleasant body language that had become a hallmark of his younger years.

But just as No.89 was about to salute fame and fortune, it was time to say goodbye, and it was no fault of its own. Eligible for arbitration and one year of unrestricted free agency, Buchnevich was (and is) likely to order between $ 5.5 and $ 6.5 million per person in his next multi-year deal. Faced with a course crisis in two years, the Rangers could not accommodate that kind of number.

But perhaps just as important in the equation is that the Rangers were just too lopsided, too homogeneous, too heavy without the necessary ingredients of the last six to win battles, to reduce opposition, to get away with it. two points when the first six were smothered. The previous regime gathered a collection of talents. Yes, of course, there is a place for that.

But there’s no room for, say, nine like-minded talents who can’t take on the traditional third and fourth line roles. It wasn’t former coach David Quinn’s fault, but there were almost always guys out of place in the roster because there wasn’t a place set for them. There was no real distinction between second line duties and third line responsibilities. The fourth row was basically a repository for leftovers or guys taking classes.

It will change. It will not be so under this administration or under the new head coach Gérard Gallant. The Rangers will have enough firepower up front and on the power play, but they’ll also feature a formidable bottom six that will put on their helmets, get down to business, and offer a different dimension. They will be more difficult to face. At least that’s the plan.

This is the genesis of the acquisition and long-term signing of Barclay Goodrow. That’s the genesis of that deal for Blais, a 25-year-old 6-foot-2, 205-pound player who plays a grueling north-south physical game, will drop the gloves when the time comes and can do a play or two. He has recorded 28 points (14-14) in 76 games over the past two seasons while averaging 12:20 ice time per night playing a good game on a line with Ryan O’Reilly. Among players with 70 or more games in the past two years, Blais is fourth in hits per 60 minutes.

And Blais, just like Goodrow, has a ring, although Goodrow, the former Lightning winger, has surely played a bigger role in repeat Tampa Bay titles in 2020 and 2021 than Blais for the 2019 Blues. Now there’s the Stanley Cup pedigree in the missing room. This part of the CV is important to Drury.

Buchnevich’s exchange for Blais opens up a place in the top six on the right side. As I suggested in this space on Friday, building the third row as a control unit means the Blueshirts won’t stack Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider and Alexis Lafrenière on the left. Thus, one, most likely Lafrenière, will move to the right to fill the vacant position created by the exit of Buchnevich.

There is still a lot of work to be done. The Jack Eichel Saga hangs over the offseason. The same is true of the organizational deficit in the middle that was not addressed in the first round of the draft, when the Rangers chose winger Brennan Othmann as their 16th selection, rather than a pair of much-loved crosses on the board.

The Rangers still need to add black and blue shirts to the bottom six mix. And you need a left defender with size and a physical presence. There is ample room to deal with these areas with the free agent market opening on Wednesday. I wonder if Zdeno Chara still fits the profile?

The Buchnevich agreement deserves debate. The Rangers appear to have given a lot more than they received. It means they’re blessed, doesn’t it? The comeback may seem slight, but it was a targeted acquisition. The necessary transformation is underway. It is not an optic. It’s reality.