Why the Blues want to trade Kyrou

[theograce]

Buchnevich has been modestly but steadily declining since the 21-22 season. He's been asked to carry more load, play center or carry a younger winger at times, and it seems to be wearing on him. He would really benefit from even a modestly better season to put any creeping doubts to rest, including his own frustrations.

Kyrou is a different type of player, a contradiction of sorts. His great talent enables him to create scoring chances and goals from seemingly nothing, yet at times he fails to make the the simple obvious plays, and he is not physically strong on the puck. His offensive contributions are considerable and consistent, and he's become a +/- stud at ES when paired with Holloway. The Blues need him, he would leave a huge hole in the lineup. I want to see him in the playoffs again, paired with a healthy Holloway and Schenn or Suter at center.

Suter is a 29 year old with 3 points. Not good in the circles. No thanks come playoff time with those guys

[Harry York 37]

No one ... NO ONE critical of Kyrou has said that they want him to hit somebody.




The fact of the matter is that in the playoffs there is less time and space than in the regular season. You have to fight though the coverage to get scoring opportunities. You have to pressure the opposition in to a mistake - you do this through forechecking or aggressive gap control. Coasting around and waiting isn't a formula for success in the playoffs. It is a "push push push" mentality for 4 rounds.

The critics of Kyrou - myself among them - don't see that mentality at all. They don't see him pushing through defenders, they don't see him wanting the puck more than the other guy.

Au contraire, Bud. I've read it many times. OK, Kyrou hasn't been the most physical guy, but who has matched him on o-fence, INCLUDING in the playoffs.

Hoping he adds ten #s of mussel, adds a bit of sand to his game, but I wouldn't want to lose his scoring, either. It's all double & triple standards.

The other thing, he might have been not 100%. Kyrou was not the reason the boys didn't advance against the Jets.

Buchnevich has outscored Kyrou by 40% since he’s been on the Blues.
Outscored as in being an integral part of plays that result in goals for the Blues in the Playoffs.
Kyrou, in all his timidity and non-competitive attitude has enough skill and speed to get open for a split second and rifle off a shot.

There are a lot of demanding shifts in a hockey game. Spending them avoiding contact and waiting for that moment where you might get open and fire something off is not playing competitive ice hockey.
We don’t care if he EVER throws a legitimate check. We want him to fight for possession and battle.
Like men who want to win the Cup play the game.

[MikoTython]

It would be a dense man indeed, Harry, to not know well your position on the fitness of young Kyrou on the home team.

Hey, let's see what the next year brings, eh ? He's gonna be here, because DA, Steen and Monty want him to be here - for whatever reasons, despite your misgivings

[DawgDad]

Buchnevich has been modestly but steadily declining since the 21-22 season. He's been asked to carry more load, play center or carry a younger winger at times, and it seems to be wearing on him. He would really benefit from even a modestly better season to put any creeping doubts to rest, including his own frustrations.

Kyrou is a different type of player, a contradiction of sorts. His great talent enables him to create scoring chances and goals from seemingly nothing, yet at times he fails to make the the simple obvious plays, and he is not physically strong on the puck. His offensive contributions are considerable and consistent, and he's become a +/- stud at ES when paired with Holloway. The Blues need him, he would leave a huge hole in the lineup. I want to see him in the playoffs again, paired with a healthy Holloway and Schenn or Suter at center.

Suter is a 29 year old with 3 points. Not good in the circles. No thanks come playoff time with those guys

I'll wait and see how he performs with the Blues. I saw him play a few times down the stretch last season as I was following all the WC playoff contenders, he looked like a warrior trying to hold together a team being ripped apart. Doing a lot more than expected. Yes, his FO skills are a concern, but that might be offset by his versatility and PK work. I'll be shocked if he's nothing more than Hayes was, or devolves into Joseph/Texier territory. He's better than that.

[theograce]

Buchnevich has been modestly but steadily declining since the 21-22 season. He's been asked to carry more load, play center or carry a younger winger at times, and it seems to be wearing on him. He would really benefit from even a modestly better season to put any creeping doubts to rest, including his own frustrations.

Kyrou is a different type of player, a contradiction of sorts. His great talent enables him to create scoring chances and goals from seemingly nothing, yet at times he fails to make the the simple obvious plays, and he is not physically strong on the puck. His offensive contributions are considerable and consistent, and he's become a +/- stud at ES when paired with Holloway. The Blues need him, he would leave a huge hole in the lineup. I want to see him in the playoffs again, paired with a healthy Holloway and Schenn or Suter at center.

Suter is a 29 year old with 3 points. Not good in the circles. No thanks come playoff time with those guys

I'll wait and see how he performs with the Blues. I saw him play a few times down the stretch last season as I was following all the WC playoff contenders, he looked like a warrior trying to hold together a team being ripped apart. Doing a lot more than expected. Yes, his FO skills are a concern, but that might be offset by his versatility and PK work. I'll be shocked if he's nothing more than Hayes was, or devolves into Joseph/Texier territory. He's better than that.

Might be a tweener but a 2nd line C come playoff time. No thanks for me

[theograce]

Like men who want to win the Cup play the game.

That man Buchnevich in your recliner

Laughing

[Harry York 37]

I get so sick of hearing this ap-cray endlessly. He's a scoring winger, he scores in the play-offs 2, he's young, fast, on a well-aging contract, fits this roster quite well.

Plus, he's a good guy. He gets better every year.

Agree. Plus after he put on 10lbs last year his game went up another notch. He was more physical than Buch with more hits, blocks, takeaways, etc… He lead the team in +/- and goals. Blues would be idiots to trade him. It would basically mean we are giving up for the next 2-3 years if we are waiting for players like Snuggerud or Dvorsky to play at his level.

He had half as many hits as Buch in the playoffs, averaging 1 per game, and only 3 points, all being goals, with 2 on the PP and the 1 at the opening of game 7.

I don't want to trade him for nothing and wait for rookies. I want to trade him for Juraj Slafkovsky.

My (also sometimes bad) memory is that he's been moved off of Thomas' wing repeatedly, and my argument would be that it's not because of total points scored in a season. He's going to score. No argument there. He just had his best season overall playing with Holloway and Schenn, two guys who will battle on the forecheck and do the dirty work (like Neighbours, who had chemistry with Thomas). My opinion is that Kyrou's lack of forechecking and puck retrieval ability, along with Thomas/Kyrou/Buch always deferring to each other instead of shooting (driving Blues fans and John Kelly crazy), led to three different coaches splitting them up. I would also say part of that was to spread out the scoring talent.

Zam, please elaborate on the comment about Kyrou lack of forechecking and puck retrieval ability, we have was above Buch the last 2 years in both areas. Based on the logic, Buch should be the trade bait, because along with being a much softer player, he also doesn’t score anything like Kyrou can.

Are you using the take/giveaway stats to justify your position? Those seem to be a crock of [shirt], especially this past season. If you're not basing your opinion on those stats, then where does it come from? It couldn't be the eye test. More specifically, in the playoffs, Buch is by far the more complete player.

That said, I would just as easily trade Buch. I just think we could get more for Kyrou who is a 27 y/o scoring RW.

Not even close in the physicality of Buch vs Kyrou in 2024-25. Maybe pre 2024, but not last year. Buch avoids contact all game. He never mucks it up in the corner and tries to steal pucks. Binny get ran over in game 3 and Buch skates off the ice and leaves Bolduc and Neighbors to clean up the mess. Watch him play and he only plays for himself. He is only physical and agressive if someone hits him first, but never sticks up for his team. People give him a free pass because he head butted someone 2 years ago after the whistle, but while the clock is running he is the softest wing on this team……by far. Plus, Buch has the lowest hockey IQ on the team. Slashes someone with 90 seconds left on the clock with Blues up by one. Ices the puck and cost us the Vancouver series when Thomas was wide open and only 20 seconds on the clock. He is not the more well rounded player.

I'm scavenging for evidence. So far, I've found this clip of Buch mucking it up and Kyrou standing around watching and looking confused. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkLI53q ... =SPORTSNET

While I would say Kyrou made significant strides this past season, his playoff grit was lacking, and I disagree that he was better checking than Buch. My objection to your statement that Buch plays only for himself lies in the players' reactions and emotions when Buch is on his game. As has been discussed on this board, it seems like the guys in the locker room really like him. On the video shared from the playoffs, he stuck up for his teammates (or at least tried to), while Kyrou watched. This is only one example, and I'm sure you could find others that are the opposite. Lowest IQ on the team bc of some mistakes kind of makes me chuckle. Remember that time Schenn grabbed the puck and threw it down the ice? good times. Buch, not a more well rounded player according to you, plays on the PK, wheras Kyrou, who should excel with this skating, does not. Buch was even tried at center due to his two-way play and hockey IQ. Perhaps we will just have to agree to disagree. I say trade them both?

Yup.

Game One of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, your team is down with less than a minute to go and- guess what- it’s getting chippy.

Kyrou is ONLY on the ice at this point of the game because we are desperate for a goal.

His teammates react to the chippy play and all of them square off and engage an opponent. At least by grabbing a sweater.
Except Kyrou.
He did a great job of not getting is a scrappy position while his teammates showed their hearts.


You hear WINNERS and you even hear courageous losers talking about “Playing for each other”.

Kyrou NEVER has his teammates backs, and never plays like he has a burning desire to… win.


Unless we trade him it’s gonna be COME ON HOLLOWAY- show Jordan how a man actually gives a rats (donkey) about winning a playoff ice hockey game behaves.





I don’t understand how typos folks are blind to this….
This is before the Stanley hit that surprised and winded him.
Before.
Too chicken to risk grabbing anyone’s sweater.