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Vladimir Tarasenko

Atlantic Notes: Tarasenko, Tomkins, Kozak

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While the Red Wings have played their way back into the playoff battle, one veteran who hasn’t had a big hand in their recent success is winger Vladimir Tarasenko.  Accordingly, even if Detroit acts as a buyer over the next few weeks, MLive’s Ansar Khan argues that the team should be looking to move the 33-year-old anyway and if it doesn’t happen, then they should consider making him a buyout candidate this summer.  Tarasenko has just seven goals and 15 assists through 53 games this season in a little under 15 minutes a night of playing time.  As someone who has reached the 20-goal mark in eight of the last 11 years, it’s fair to say Detroit was expecting more than that for their $4.75MM commitment through next season.  It would be tough to offload that contract in its entirety but a swap of underachievers might be the way to for the Red Wings, as long as Tarasenko, who has a full no-trade clause, approves the deal.

More from the Atlantic:

  • Earlier this week, Mattias Persson of HockeyNews.se reported that HV71 of the SHL was trying to add Lightning goaltender Matt Tomkins for the remainder of the season. With Tampa Bay recently converting Brandon Halverson to an NHL deal, Tomkins is effectively down to fourth-string status and he did spend two years in Sweden recently so the move wouldn’t have been entirely shocking.  However, it appears the efforts to get Tomkins out of his NHL deal before today’s international transfer deadline were unsuccessful as Varmlands Folkblad’s Johan Ekberg reports (Twitter link) that the netminder has declined HV71’s offer and will remain in North America for the rest of the season.  The 30-year-old has a 2.66 GAA and a .905 SV% in 21 games with AHL Syracuse.
  • Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News suggests that it’s unlikely that center Tyson Kozak will remain in the minors once NHL play resumes next Saturday. The 22-year-old has played in 11 games so far with Buffalo where he has a goal and a 48.1% success rate at the faceoff dot in 10:25 per night of playing time.  Lysowski notes that Kozak’s defensive play has drawn praise from Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff but on the other hand, playing a young prospect that little might not be the most ideal option from a longer-term development perspective.

Red Wings Reassign Austin Watson

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Oct. 31: Watson was demoted back to Grand Rapids on Thursday morning, the team announced. He logged a -1 rating, one shot on goal and four hits in 9:06 of ice time in last night’s loss to the Jets in place of Tarasenko, who wasn’t able to play due to his illness.

Oct. 30: The Red Wings announced today they’ve recalled winger Austin Watson from AHL Grand Rapids under emergency conditions. Detroit has an open roster spot, so no corresponding transaction is needed.

Watson comes up to give the Red Wings 12 available forwards in case Vladimir Tarasenko, who head coach Derek Lalonde told reporters is a game-time decision tonight against the Jets with an illness, can’t play (via Sean Shapiro of EP Rinkside). If he plays, it would be just his second appearance of the season. Signed to a PTO by Detroit in late August, Watson earned a two-way deal after a successful training camp and subsequently cleared waivers. He’s spent the entire 2024-25 campaign in the minors aside from a one-day recall on Oct. 14, which resulted in him entering the lineup against the Rangers. He played under five minutes and posted a -1 rating with a minor penalty.

The 32-year-old has done well in his first taste of minor league action since a conditioning stint in the 2018-19 campaign. Watson is tied for the team lead in scoring with six assists through seven games, leading them in both PIMs (19) and rating (+6). While he’s never shown the offensive upside at the NHL level to be much more than a fourth-line piece, he’s suiting up as one of the best power forwards in the AHL this season.

Watson can remain on the NHL roster for 28 days or play nine more NHL games before he needs waivers again to return to the minors. He spent last year with the Lightning, scoring twice and adding a pair of assists in 33 appearances. The 2010 first-round pick of the Predators has made 519 NHL appearances for Detroit, Nashville, Ottawa, and Tampa Bay dating back to the 2012-13 campaign.

Red Wings Sign Vladimir Tarasenko To Two-Year Deal

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The Detroit Red Wings have signed winger Vladimir Tarasenko to a two-year, $9.5MM contract. The deal carries a cap hit of $4.75MM.

Tarasenko continues his tour around the NHL with this deal, after interrupting an 11-career in St. Louis with a trade to the New York Rangers last season, where he got to play with close friend Artemi Panarin. Tarasenko scored 21 points in 31 regular season games with the Rangers, after posting 29 in his final 38 games with the Blues. He added four points in seven postseason games, before entering unrestricted free agency for the first time in his career.

Tarasenko took his talents to the Ottawa Senators with the freedom – signing a one-year, $5MM contract. He was a stout second-line scorer with the Senators, netting 17 goals and 41 points in 57 games. But with hopes of the playoffs dwindling, Ottawa traded Tarasenko to the Florida Panthers at the Trade Deadline, receiving a third-round pick in 2025 and 2026 in return.

The move to Florida gave Tarasenko yet another chance to chase the Stanley Cup, after lifting it with the Blues in 2019. He seemed determined to cease the opportunity, recording 14 points in 19 games during Florida’s smash end to the season. But Tarasenko struggled to maintain that scoring in the postseason, netting just nine points in 24 postseason games – though three of those points came in the seven-game Stanley Cup Finals against the Edmonton Oilers.

Despite a relatively unproductive postseason, Tarasenko has maintained his top-end scoring – after serving in a proud role on St. Louis’ top lines for over a decade. Originally the 16th-overall selection in the 2010 NHL Draft, Tarasenko made his NHL debut midway through the 2012-13 season, having already spent four years in Russia’s KHL despite being just 21. And much like his career in Russia, Tarasenko proved quickly productive in the NHL, recording 19 points in his first 38 NHL games and ranking 12th in Calder Trophy voting. He followed the performance with 21 goals and 43 points as a sophomore, before truly breaking out in year-three, with a dazzling 37 goals and 73 points in 77 games. Not to be outdone, Tarasenko followed it with 40 goals and 74 points the following year, then 39 goals and 75 points the year after that.

Those seasons still hold Tarasenko’s career-high in goals, though he managed a career-high in points in the 2021-22 season, his age-30 season, netting 82 across 75 games.

And while he’s slipped from his days of routine 30-goal, 70-point seasons – Tarasenko can still be relied upon for 20 goals and 50 points outside of a top line role. He’ll now bring that scoring upside to Detroit, where he’ll – ironically – serve as the replacement for former long-time teammate David Perron, who in turn filled Tarasenko’s role with the Ottawa Senators.

Tarasenko’s new role could also pair him across from former Rangers teammate Patrick Kane, who signed a one-year deal with the Wings ahead of free agency. The duo of veteran scorers will join Alex DeBrincat and presumably Lucas Raymond – though he remains unsigned – as Detroit’s top-six wingers this season.

Metro Notes: Tarasenko, Perreault, Hurricanes

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Josh Yohe of The Athletic is reporting that the Pittsburgh Penguins have made a contract offer to free agent forward Vladimir Tarasenko. Fresh off the second Stanley Cup of his career and his first with the Florida Panthers, Tarasenko passed through the first day of free agency unsigned. It’s familiar territory for the 32-year-old as he didn’t sign a contract last summer until July 27th.

Tarasenko is no longer a perennial 30-goal scorer, but he remains a solid option on the wing, particularly for the Penguins who are looking for short-term options to play alongside Sidney Crosby. Tarasenko had a good year for Ottawa and Florida, tallying 23 goals and 32 assists in 76 regular season games.

The Penguins have just $3.5MM in available cap space (as per CapFriendly) at the moment but could bury salary in the AHL to open up room should they decide to do so. They also have a stockpile of fourth-line options and could presumably trade Lars Eller or Noel Acciari to open up room for Tarasenko.

In other Metropolitan Division notes:

  • Vince Z. Mercogliano of USA Today tweeted that New York Rangers forward prospect Gabe Perreault will be going back to Boston College for his sophomore season in the NCAA. The Rangers’ 2023 first-round pick (23rd overall) isn’t sure what direction he will go after the season but given his numbers last year in the NCAA (19 goals and 41 assists in 36 games) it’s fair to wonder if he’ll turn pro. Perreault is the son of former NHLer Yanic Perreault and shares many of the same on-ice traits as his father, right down to their height at 5’11”. He has yet to sign his entry-level contract but at this point, it doesn’t appear to be an issue that is bothering Rangers management.
  • David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period tweeted that the Carolina Hurricanes will be hiring a new president for the organization with an announcement coming in the coming weeks. Former president and general manager Don Waddell resigned back in May and his GM duties were eventually handed off to Eric Tulsky. Waddell oversaw the Hurricanes’ business operations for nearly ten years after he was hired back on July 1st, 2014. There are no indications as to who the Hurricanes new president could be, and it will add another layer of change to an organization that has seen quite a bit of it over the past six weeks. Carolina was busy in the first two days of free agency as they looked to replace the losses of Brett Pesce and Jake Guentzel who both signed elsewhere.

Panthers Aleksander Barkov And Vladimir Tarasenko To Play Game 3

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Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov will dress tonight in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals against the Edmonton Oilers (as per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman). The Panthers lead the best-of-seven series 2-0 and will be looking to grab a stranglehold as the series shifts to Edmonton. The 28-year-old was a question mark for tonight after leaving Game 2 on Monday night. Barkov took a high hit from Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl midway through the third period that resulted in a two-minute minor penalty.

This year’s Selke Trophy winner as the NHL’s top defensive forward, Barkov has two assists in the Stanley Cup Final and has tallied six goals and 13 assists in 19 games in the playoffs.

Friedman also tweeted that Panthers forward Vladimir Tarasenko will dress for Game 3 tonight. The 32-year-old has been dealing with an undisclosed injury and has three goals and four assists in 19 playoff games and has averaged just under 14 minutes a game in ice time. The 2019 Stanley Cup champion was acquired by the Panthers on March 6th from the Ottawa Senators for a fourth-round draft pick in 2024 and a third-round draft pick in 2025. Given Tarasenko’s offensive production, it’s fair to wonder how much the injury has limited his play, Tarasenko had 23 goals, and 32 assists in 76 regular season games split between Florida and Ottawa.

Michael Russo of The Athletic tweeted that with Barkov and Tarasenko in the lineup, the Panthers will likely elevate Evan Rodrigues to the top line, while Carter Verhaeghe will move to a line with Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk.

Snapshots: Conditional Picks, Tocchet, Thunderbirds

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The final series of the playoffs gets underway tonight with Edmonton taking on Florida.  The events and outcome of the Stanley Cup Final will also affect the draft order in the next three years.  As CapFriendly notes (Twitter link), the following four late-season trades will be finalized based on whoever wins this series:

Ducks/Oilers: The 2025 fifth-round pick that went to Anaheim in the Adam Henrique trade will upgrade to a 2025 4th round pick if Edmonton wins.

Sabres/Panthers: The 2024 seventh-rounder acquired by Buffalo for Kyle Okposo will upgrade to a 2024 fifth-round pick if Florida wins.  (Florida would also incur a $500K cap penalty next season in this scenario as that is payable to Okposo if they win.)

Senators/Panthers: The 2024 fourth-round pick that Ottawa received for Vladimir Tarasenko will become a 2026 third-rounder if Florida wins the series.

Penguins/Panthers: The 2025 seventh-round pick Pittsburgh acquired for Magnus Hellberg will convey if Hellberg plays in two games this round.  Hellberg is on Florida’s active roster as a Black Ace recall but has yet to play this postseason.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet is heading into the final guaranteed season of his contract next season though there is a team option for 2025-26 as well. The bench boss told reporters including Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province that there have yet to be any discussions about a contract extension, nor is he concerned about that.  Tocchet led Vancouver to a surprising first-place finish in the Pacific Division with 109 points, helping him earn the Jack Adams Award last month.
  • The AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds (affiliate of the Blues) announced that they’ve hired long-time NHL blueliner Jaroslav Modry and AHL veteran Chad Wiseman as their new assistant coaches. Modry spent the last three seasons coaching in his native Czechia while Wiseman had been coaching with OHL Guelph since 2018-19.  They join NHL veteran Steve Konowalchuk on a new-look coaching staff.

Panthers Acquire Vladimir Tarasenko From Senators

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11:33 a.m.: The Senators confirmed the trade and all its parts in a team release Wednesday morning.

10:45 a.m.: The Panthers are nearing a deal to acquire pending UFA winger Vladimir Tarasenko from the Senators, according to reports from Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch and Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Florida is sending a 2025 third-round pick and a conditional 2024 fourth-round pick to Ottawa, who retains 50% of Tarasenko’s $5MM cap hit, per Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic. The 2024 fourth-rounder will upgrade to a 2026 third-round pick if the Panthers win the Stanley Cup.

Since no roster players are being sent back to the Sens, the Panthers must place a player on waivers and assign them a non-roster designation in the interim to create space. They have no open roster spots or waiver-exempt players to assign to AHL Charlotte. Swallowing Tarasenko’s reduced $2.5MM cap hit still leaves Florida with roughly $3.2MM in space ahead of Friday’s trade deadline.

Tarasenko joins his fourth team in the past two seasons and, based on previous reporting from Garrioch, ends up in his preferred destination. The 32-year-old has complete no-trade protection as part of the one-year deal he signed with Ottawa last summer, which he waived to approve the move to Florida.

In acquiring Tarasenko, Panthers GM Bill Zito addresses his squad’s most significant need on paper – another winger to ride shotgun with Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk. 30-year-old Nick Cousins, who has just five goals and 10 points in 51 games, has been shouldering top-six minutes with Anton Lundell and Evan Rodrigues finding chemistry together on Florida’s third line.

The defending Eastern Conference champions are now deeper than ever, adding Tarasenko’s 17 goals and 41 points this season to an offense that already ranked eighth in goals per game. Even his middle-of-the-pack possession metrics should be an improvement over the struggling Cousins, who’s hurt both the Bennett and Lundell lines, per MoneyPuck. When flanked by Carter Verhaeghe, Bennett and Tkachuk have controlled 60.4% of expected goals compared to 51.8% with Cousins.

It’s likely not the return the Sens wanted for their highest-value rental, especially with salary retention included. The extent to which Tarasenko’s no-trade clause limited Sens GM Steve Staios’ options for a return is unknown. Two draft picks are better than none, though, and there was little reason for Ottawa to hold onto Tarasenko with the playoffs out of reach for a franchise-record seventh straight season.

Tarasenko’s absence should translate to an uptick in ice time for 21-year-old Ridly Greig, who’s averaged under 15 minutes per game, down the stretch. He’s been one of the Sens’ bright spots this season, posting a team-high +17 rating along with nine goals and 21 points in 49 games. Tarasenko’s most common spot alongside Drake Batherson and Tim Stützle will be filled by another veteran in Claude Giroux, at least out of the gate.

By retaining $2.5MM of Tarasenko’s cap hit, the Sens remain over the $83.5MM Upper Limit, requiring Joshua Norris’ $7.95MM cap hit on LTIR to stay compliant. He remains out indefinitely with an upper-body injury potentially related to the shoulder problems that sidelined him for nearly all of 2022-23.

Andy Strickland of Bally Sports Midwest was the first to report that two draft picks were heading from the Panthers to the Senators.

Senators Expected To Scratch Vladimir Tarasenko For Trade-Related Reasons

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The Senators will likely scratch pending UFA winger Vladimir Tarasenko for trade-related reasons Wednesday against the Ducks, Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia reports. Ottawa recalled winger Matthew Highmore from AHL Belleville in a corresponding transaction, a team announcement states.

In recent days, Tarasenko has generated interest from multiple teams. The Bruins, Oilers, Golden Knights, Hurricanes, Panthers, and Rangers have all inquired about picking him up before Friday’s trade deadline, Garrioch said Monday.

His one-year, $5MM contract contains a no-trade clause, so he can block a trade to any team he chooses. Per Garrioch, Tarasenko reportedly prefers the defending Eastern Conference champion Panthers as his post-deadline home, but it doesn’t appear he’ll force his way into a move to South Florida if another contender serves up an offer more to Sens GM Steve Staios’ liking.

Tarasenko, 32, has picked things up after a slow start in the Canadian capital, posting 17 goals, 24 assists and 41 points in 57 games. His 0.72 points per game matches last season’s rate split between the Blues and Rangers, albeit in a little less ice time. Tarasenko’s averaging 16:03 per game, his lowest usage in 10 years.

Interestingly, he’s been a much-improved player at controlling possession quality from his later days in St. Louis. He has a 0.2 expected rating, his first time in the black in an entire season since winning the Stanley Cup with the Blues in 2019.

As such, Ottawa will follow in the footsteps of the Kraken (Alexander Wennberg) and Coyotes (Jason Zucker) and scratch their most likely trade asset to avoid a pre-deadline injury. Tarasenko, who has four points in his last four games, will be a scratch for the first time since taking a brief personal leave in December.

He’ll be replaced in the lineup by the 28-year-old Highmore, who comes up from Belleville for the third time this season. The Nova Scotia-born winger made six appearances for the Sens in November and December, recording an assist, a -1 rating and one shot on goal while averaging a career-low 7:59 per game.

The former Blackhawks, Blues and Canucks depth forward is in his first season in Ottawa after inking a one-year, two-way deal ($775K NHL/$400K AHL) on July 1 last year. He’s spent most of the year with Belleville, scoring nine goals and adding 20 assists for 29 points in 40 games. It’s a significant step back from last year’s minor-league showing when he posted 61 points in 68 games with St. Louis’ affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds.

As long as Highmore’s recall lasts under 10 days and sees him play four games or less, he won’t need waivers to return to the B-Sens. He’ll likely factor in on Ottawa’s fourth line tonight with Mark Kastelic and Parker Kelly. Zack MacEwen, who was quietly moved to injured reserve yesterday, per CapFriendly, is out with a lower-body injury.

Senators Receiving Strong Interest In Vladimir Tarasenko

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Senators winger Vladimir Tarasenko is widely expected to be on the move in the next few days with Ottawa well out of playoff contention.  It appears there are several suitors for his services as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that the Panthers, Hurricanes, Bruins, Rangers, Golden Knights, and Oilers are among the teams who have inquired about him with Florida being high on Tarasenko’s preferred list of options.

The 32-year-old has had a solid season with Ottawa, his first with them after signing a one-year, $5MM deal in free agency.  Tarasenko has 17 goals and 24 assists in 57 games so far, good for fifth on the team in scoring.  Notably, he’s putting up those numbers with a bit less playing time than usual; his 16:03 is his lowest ATOI since his sophomore campaign back in 2013-14.  Assuming Ottawa is willing to pay the contract down by the maximum of 50%, they’ll be well-positioned to land a quality return.

According to Garrioch, the return Sens GM Steve Staios is looking for a two-piece return in exchange for Tarasenko.  One is a second-round pick and the other is a prospect.

There are two things worth noting on Tarasenko’s side.  First is that he has full trade protection which means he has to sign off on wherever he’s going.  The second is that he recently switched agents for the second time in less than a year, leading to speculation that he might want a contract extension as part of any swap to avoid what happened back in July when teams didn’t meet his initial asking price which is how he landed with Ottawa on a one-year fall-back deal.

Some of the above potential suitors would be hard-pressed to fit an extension for Tarasenko onto their books with their cap flexibility being limited to the final six weeks of this season, not next.  If that’s the case, that could certainly whittle down the list of potential suitors in a hurry unless some of those teams decide to do that now and figure out how to make the fit work on the cap down the road.

A year ago, Tarasenko was viewed as one of the big fish heading into the deadline, resulting in the Rangers giving up a first-round pick to add him (and Niko Mikkola) for the stretch run.  He isn’t quite in that territory this time around but for a team looking to add some secondary scoring, Tarasenko, a veteran of 97 career playoff appearances, could certainly be an impactful addition for a postseason contender.

Vladimir Tarasenko Willing To Waive No-Trade Clause

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The Senators are expected to move winger Vladimir Tarasenko after confirming the Russian veteran will waive his no-trade clause for a Stanley Cup contender, reports David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period. Reporting from Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch multiple times this month indicated that the 32-year-old may have preferred to stick with the Sens for the rest of the season, but he’s now likely to be on the move before the March 8 trade deadline.

Tarasenko’s willingness to accept a move aligns with what most anticipated at the beginning of the season: if the Senators were out of playoff contention close to the deadline, they’d flip the 2019 Stanley Cup champion after signing him to a one-year, $5MM pact in free agency. The six-time 30-goal scorer surprisingly struggled to secure a commitment when the floodgates opened on July 1, leading to him changing agents less than a week into the new league year.

He settled on Ottawa and their offer of complete trade protection, allowing him to dictate his destiny if they decided to move him at the deadline. While his days of routinely potting 30 in a season are behind him after multiple significant shoulder injuries in 2019 and 2020 with the Blues, he’s been a solid complementary top-six piece in Ottawa with 15 goals, 23 assists, 38 points, and a +12 rating while averaging 15:59 per game across 55 appearances.

Don’t let the +12 rating on a bottom-feeder team fool you – he hasn’t suddenly turned into a high-end shutdown winger. His expected rating is -0.4, middle of the pack on the team, as is his 49.2 CF% at even strength. Nothing about his numbers indicates he’s become a genuine liability, either, posting a solid 51.4% expected goals share with Drake Batherson and Tim Stützle this year, per MoneyPuck.

Any team acquiring Tarasenko is getting a similar talent to what the Rangers picked up from the Blues at last year’s deadline. He’s a solid middle-six scoring winger with Cup-winning experience, and if the Sens opt to retain half of his $5MM cap hit down the stretch and make him a $2.5MM player for whoever acquires him, they should be able to get a second-round pick at the very least.

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