There has been an expectation over the past few months that the Blues and Vladimir Tarasenko would be parting ways. First came the news that he was being shopped which was followed up by Tarasenko’s trade request going public. The first opportunity came and went with expansion; although St. Louis left the winger unprotected, Seattle instead opted for RFA defenseman Vince Dunn. Then came the draft and the opening of free agency and still the veteran remains with the Blues.
Accordingly, GM Doug Armstrong told reporters including Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he is changing his focus towards dealing with his restricted free agents and “as of now I don’t see anything changing for a while” when it comes to his roster which suggests there is no viable trade option on the horizon for Tarasenko.
There are a trio of restricted free agents to deal with in forwards Zach Sanford, Jordan Kyrou, and Robert Thomas. The Blues have a little over $6MM in cap room, per CapFriendly, which means they should be able to get those three locked up but they won’t have anything left to spend after that. That means that the delay in finding a Tarasenko trade is basically holding up the rest of their offseason planning.
Thomas notes that Tarasenko has expanded his list of teams he’s willing to go to and at this point, he’s willing to go pretty much anywhere to get the change of scenery he so desires. In terms of potential suitors, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period suggested in a recent appearance on the NHL Network (video link) that the Islanders, Rangers, and Devils are in the mix but others that had interest such as the Flyers have since dropped out. Of those three, New Jersey has the cleanest cap situation to make a move for Tarasenko without needing any sort of salary offset.
Tarasenko’s trade value is certainly at the lowest it has been in a while as the 29-year-old underachieved after coming back from yet another shoulder surgery (his third in two years), notching just four goals in 24 games last season and didn’t make much of an impact at the World Championships after joining Russia late in the tournament. With a $7.5MM cap hit for two more years and a $9.5MM salary, it’s a hefty price tag to take on and considering how he performed after coming back, it’s understandable that there is some hesitance to give up a return of significance.
While there is no firm timeline to necessarily get something done, the more that teams spend either on the open market or re-signing their own players makes it harder to get a Tarasenko trade done as cap space dries up so from that standpoint, the sooner a move gets done, the better. The old adage is that it only takes one phone call to get something going on the trade front. Armstrong is certainly hoping that call is coming soon.
imo (which isn’t worth much lol) vlad just needs to shut up and accept a trade for anyone who wants him or suck it up come back this season and show the nhl he can be an elite talent. imo all that vlad is doing atm is hurting his stock. the way i look at it is you have a player upset with his body and looking to blame anyone than himself. tbh why would any team take a risk on a Prima donna with 3 major surgeries. at this point if vlad wants out he needs to lace up them skates for the note and play and prove to the other 31 teams in the nhl that he isn’t damaged goods and that he can be a team player
Based on what was reported it doesn’t sound like he’s wrong to blame St Louis for the surgeries. Their doctors put him under the knife twice and didn’t fix the issue. He went outside of the organization and those doctors identified the issue and fixed it with one surgery. The two from the team resulted in him getting injured almost immediately upon returning to play. This one from the independent doctor seems to be holding up.
It doesn’t really sound like he is refusing any deals to go anywhere. There just isn’t that much interest by other teams in acquiring him. So he doesn’t need to “shut up and accept a trade” exactly…point is, he’s not holding up the trade, it’s on the GMs
@cedriclee you have a good valid point but i know who the blues use for there surgeons and they come from wash u, and wash u is one of the top 5 med programs in the country, also shoulders are tricky to work on just like an automatic transmission. there are a lot of finite pieces in both applications that make it hard to fix also who’s to say vladimir followed the docs orders on rehab, my dad hurt his shoulder in a bike wreck and 2 months before he was allowed to put stress on it he was chopping fire wood and was trying to prove to the docs that he was well enough to be a carpenter. long story short my old man did more damage trying to get back and now in retirement he can’t lift his arm over his head. part of me wonders if vladimir didn’t try to rush his rehab to get back on the ice and ended up doing more damage. sorry if this post got long winded but i’m wondering if what vladimir’s camp is true or are we hearing some of the facts. imo i’m willing to take the bet that vladimir rushed his rehab got hurt and is trying to blame anyone and everyone but himself.
@cjmask your right vladimir’s camp has opened up the list and when i made my op it was before i heard on the local sports station that he opened up his market. then again i’m sure most teams are looking at vladimir as a bit of a whiner wanting out of a team that is building themselves for a deep “oct” run. (i know the nhl playoffs are in may/june but i’m a baseball guy hence y i used oct)
You mean the blues need to suck it up and take the best offer.
It’s a lousy situatiin for Tarasenko and the Blues. That being said, if you are a team that happens to have cap room, he’d be great to take a chance on if it only costs you draft picks. Nothing in the draft is as proven as Vlad. And if you are the Blues, are they just asking too much? I have to think at this point if you get a 2nd rounder and the cap relief you take it. You can’t expect anything to come in a trade that is so good it takes away the sting of the relationship not working out. Obviously the Blues don’t want to watch him go score 40-50 goals and help someone else in the playoffs, but you need to find a way to move on.
@cj81 tbh i don’t think the price is to “high” i think it’s more of if i trade him for scraps i’m not keeping any salary. tbh i think it’s more of either we get some lotto tickets and you take on his cap hit. if not army and the note are prepared to tell vladimir stfu lace up them skates and go play and prove to the other 31 teams why they should trade for you.
Don’t count out Carolina. Tarasenko is very good friends with Teuvo Teravainan and is also from the same Russian city as Andrei Svechnikov. Carolina has the cap space, too.
The issue in Carolina would be two fold. Most importantly, will he play the Rod Brind’amor way and related to that will his shoulder let him play for long the RBA way? That’s not to mention cap space, which at $7.5 for 2 years is very risky after 3 surgeries on the same shoulder.
I’m surprised if anyone takes the full salary this off-season unless they are getting something with him.that’s 7.5 for 2 years for a goal scorer with 3 surgeries in 2 years and minimal production since.
I think Tarasenko should stay.
Army should work on Bozak for (CBJ)Domi.
This would be a great trade.
Then if #91 gets delt I hope its (WSH)Kuznetsov – (NYI)Beauvillier – (NYR)Lafrenière/Miller
These would make missing 30+ goals this year. He will dominate this year. Hes ready. Watch him this year on the RUS team. Hes dangerous again!!
Bozak is a free agent
Unrestricted free agent
Besides being a unrestricted free agent, on what planet does Bozak = Domi? Domi is 10 years younger and better than Bozak.
And the only realistic trade of those 3 for Tank is Kuznetsov simply because the Caps are said to be wanting to rid themselves of him.
In a perfect world, lots of teams should want to trade for Kuznetsov.
In the real world, why would any team trade for Kuznetsov, given the reason WSH is shopping him?
The exact same can be said for tank fwjbt.
I guess I should be clear here…the Caps are reportedly tired of Kuznetsov because of his drug issues.
You are saying the “same” can be said of Tarasenko, meaning why would a team want him despite his shoulder and AAV issues that the Blues want to move on from, not that he also has a drug problem, right?
Fwjbt, the Caps are tired of Kuzy’s inconsistency and reported off ice issues.
The Blues are sick of Tank’s complaining and he wants out.
devils have cap space, pk comes off next year, they need a scoring winger, match made in hell……… im here all week
This isn’t brain surgery. Tarasenko is damaged goods. Less than half the teams in the league have the cap space to take him on even if they wanted to do so. Of that half, a number of them aren’t ones Tarasenko’s likely to waive his NTC to join … however much he wants a change of scenery, does anyone see him signing on for Detroit, Buffalo or Ottawa, for instance? St. Louis doesn’t dare keep any salary: they’ve only got $6 mm clear as it stands and several RFAs yet to sign, so they’re not going to go for someone else’s salary dump.
Never mind that the eyepopping precedent has been set. If the reigning Vezina winner, someone with a SMALLER cap hit and who is perfectly healthy, was given away for FREE, if the Blues get so much as a second rounder from anyone for someone the whole league knows is desperate to unload, it’ll be a miracle.
They left him unprotected, so they were willing to let him leave for free… except the cost of the player that they actually lost in the expansion draft. Why should they now expect more than the equivalent of a fringe player in return?