St. Louis Blues’ Ryan O’Reilly, Pavel Buchnevich return to lineup Saturday

The St. Louis Blues have activated forwards Ryan O’Reilly and Pavel Buchnevich from injured reserve, making them eligible to play on Saturday against the Arizona Coyotes.

O’Reilly has missed the past 14 games with a broken foot that he sustained at the end of 2022. He had been having a quiet year prior to that with 10 goals and 16 points in 37 games. The pending UFA has been involved in trade rumors over the past few months, something that didn’t change after forward Vladimir Tarsenko was moved to the New York Rangers earlier in the week.

The 32-year-old forward is in the final year of a $7.5 million AAV deal. O’Reilly was acquired by the Blues in 2018 and went on to lead the team to a Stanley Cup in 2019, the first in franchise history. He assumed the role of captain in 2020-21 after Alex Pietrangelo left for the Vegas Golden Knights.

Buchnevich has missed the past four games with an ankle infection. The 27-year-old has been an important piece of the attack this season with 38 points in as many games. The Blues acquired him from the Rangers back in 2021 in a deal that sent Sammy Blais to the New York Rangers. Blais was re-acquired in the Tarasenko deal.

The Blues are currently fifth in the Western Conference wild-card race, nine points behind Minnesota for the final spot. It’s believed with the Tarasenko trade that the team are set to be sellers at the deadline, with O’Reilly and Ivan Barbashev being the key pieces.