The St. Louis Blues acquired Radek Faksa from Dallas and Mathieu Joseph from Ottawa on Tuesday in a pair of trades for future considerations and in a separate move signed Pavel Buchnevich to a long-term extension.
The deal with the Senators also netted the Blues a 2025 third-round draft pick. Joseph has two years left on his contract at an annual salary cap hit of $2.95 million, and Ottawa was looking to clear cap space to re-sign Shane Pinto, which it then did hours later on a two-year, $7.5 million deal.
Buchnevich signed for $48 million over six years, a contract that counts $8 million against the salary cap from when it begins in 2025-26 through the 2030-31 NHL season.
Buchnevich, 29, ranks second on the Blues with 83 goals and 123 assists over the past three seasons, putting up 206 points in 216 regular-season games.
Dallas captain Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin were the only players with longer current stints with the Stars than Faksa, a 30-year-old who spent his first nine seasons with the franchise that drafted him in the first round in 2012.
Faksa made his NHL debut during the 2015-16 season, and the native of the Czech Republic had 200 points (89 goals, 111 assists) in 683 games for the Stars.
The emergence of young forwards Wyatt Johnston in 2022-23 and Logan Stankoven this past season helped lead to a diminishing role for Faksa on a club that made consecutive trips to the Western Conference Final.
After playing in all 19 playoff games in 2022-23, Faksa dressed for just eight of the 19 this past season, scoring a goal for his only postseason point in 2024. Dallas lost to Vegas in 2023 and Edmonton this year.
Faksa had 19 points (seven goals, 12 assists) in 74 regular-season games this season. His best years were his first two full seasons in 2016-17 and 2017-18, when he scored 33 points each time.
“I want to thank Radek for everything he’s done for this organization,” general manager Jim Nill said. “He’s been a big part of our team for a long time.”
Joseph is coming off career highs in points (35) and assists (24) in his second full season with Ottawa. The 27-year-old’s career started in Tampa Bay, which drafted him in the fourth round in 2015.
Later Tuesday, Anaheim acquired defenseman Brian Dumoulin from Seattle for a 2026 fourth-round pick. Dumoulin, who turns 33 in September, has one year left on his contract at a cap hit of $3.15 million.
“We want to thank Brian for his contributions to the Kraken…