It’s not a foregone conclusion that the St. Louis Blues will be major sellers leading up to this year’s trade deadline, though it’s certainly shaping up that way. In two separate reports, Chris Johnston of The Athletic writes that center Brayden Schenn could be the first domino to fall, while TheFourthPeriod’s David Pagnotta suggested in Inside Sports with Brenden Escott that Pavel Buchnevich’s name has popped up in trade chatter.
The updates come only a few days after General Manager Doug Armstrong declared that there were no untouchables on the Blues’ roster. Armstrong has the opportunity to collect multiple prospects, as well as draft capital, to set St. Louis up for its next generation as the front office transitions to Alexander Steen next season.
Schenn, 34, isn’t a stranger to seeing his name in trade conversations. The former 5th overall pick of the 2009 NHL Draft has already been traded twice in his career, though he’s spent the last nine years with the Blues. Schenn was included in trade negotiations last season, though the captain publicly expressed his desire to remain in St. Louis and may have used his no-trade clause to ensure that he did.
He’s become more movable as his full no-trade protection transitioned to a 15-team no-trade clause this year. Still, unless there’s a significant increase in offensive production, the Blues may have missed their best opportunity to maximize Schenn’s perceived trade value. Through his first 36 games this year, he’s on pace for 14 goals and 30 points, which would be his worst output since the 2012-13 season.
Furthermore, outside of his faceoff percentage, which is at an elite rate this season, Schenn’s possession metrics and defensive metrics have also declined this year. Still, because the premium put on the center position, and other team’s desperation, St. Louis has the opportunity to take advantage of a sellers market. Just last night, the Los Angeles Kings traded Phillip Danault, who’s signed through next season at a $5.5MM cap hit, for a second-round pick.
Additionally, the Blues could market Schenn’s playoff experience as another selling point. Especially for a young center-needy team like the Montreal Canadiens, Schenn’s postseason past, particularly helping St. Louis win the Stanley Cup in 2019, could be of great value both on and off the ice.
Meanwhile, the idea of moving Buchnevich may be mostly pie in the sky thinking, and the Blues simply doing their due dilligence. The 30-year-old forward is signed through the 2030-31 season at an $8MM cap hit and has full no-trade protection until the 2029-30 season.
Furthermore, like Schenn and multiple other players on the roster, Buchnevich’s trade value has fallen this season. Scoring five goals and 17 points in his first 36 contests, Buchnevich is one pace for his lowest goal-scoring totals since his rookie campaign in 2016-17.
Still, before this year, Buchnevich was a fairly consistent offensive presence for St. Louis. In 292 games from 2021 to 2025, Buchnevich scored 103 goals and 263 points with a +56 rating, averaging 19:09 of ice time. If team’s feel that Buchnevich can rebound to that level of play in a different environment, they may be willing to pay the cost for his services. Still, there’s likely too many hurdles to overcome to make a swap this season.