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Vladimir Tarasenko

Snapshots: Three Stars, Coyotes, Point

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The NHL has released their Three Stars for last week, with Dylan Larkin taking the top spot. The Detroit Red Wings captain scored five goals and seven points in three games, helping the club maintain a grip on the second Eastern Conference Wild Card spot. Larkin, seemingly rejuvenated by his upstart young teammates, has 29 points in 27 games this season. Should he finish with more than a point-per-game, it would be the first time in his seven-year career.

Vladimir Tarasenko and Nikolaj Ehlers took home second and third respectively after outstanding weeks of their own. The St. Louis Blues winger had four goals and six points in three games, proving once again that he’s healthy and ready to reclaim his place as one of the most dangerous offensive weapons in the league. After two seasons marred by injury, Tarasenko is up to 29 points in 31 games. Ehlers meanwhile has grown into one of the most consistent players for the Winnipeg Jets and tallied seven points in just three games. The 25-year-old now has 24 points in 30 games, split evenly between goals and assists.

  • The Arizona Coyotes have paid approximately $930K to the city of Glendale, Katie Sharp of The Athletic confirmed with city manager Kevin Phelps. The team has “satisfied” what the city asked for when they threatened to lock them out of Gila River Arena earlier this month. The Coyotes have now gotten up to date with debts owed to the city and state, while NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has repeatedly insisted that it wasn’t a problem and the team isn’t moving. In fact, Bettman suggested that Glendale had an “edge or agenda” in how they were dealing with the Coyotes. Phelps told The Athletic at the time that there was no agenda, only that the city wanted “assurances that the team pay all of their obligations to the city in a timely manner.”
  • Brayden Point was back on the ice at Tampa Bay Lightning practice today, and he was wearing a regular white jersey, according to team reporter Gabby Shirley. Point was not included in the regular lines but skated alongside Gabriel Fortier and Nikita Kucherov. The star center is expected to return soon after the holiday break; he last played on November 20 and was given a four-to-six-week timeline.

Vladimir Tarasenko Fully Healthy, Taking Part In Training Camp

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It’s day one of the on-ice portions of training camp around the league and at the St. Louis Blues skate, there is a participant not many expected just a few months ago. Vladimir Tarasenko was lining up alongside the recently-signed Robert Thomas and newcomer Brandon Saad in the team’s second group after months of speculation regarding a trade request. The veteran winger wasn’t dealt and has deemed himself fully healthy after suiting up for just 34 total games over the last two seasons.

Speaking to reporters including Lou Korac of NHL.com, Tarasenko made it clear that he’s completely committed to the Blues as long as he’s a part of the team:

Everything is good. My mindset is good. It’s good to be with the guys. I have good relationships with the guys. It’s been a weird summer, but it’s going to stay between us (and) between me and Doug. I’m here to work. As long as I’m here, I will work for 100 percent.

In the past, the NHL has seen a few players give less than full effort as they try to navigate a trade request, but it appears as though the 29-year-old won’t fall into that category. He’s keeping the details of his trade request private for now and going about his business as if it never happened.

Still, it did happen, and there will be speculation around Tarasenko’s future all season. The Blues managed to get everyone signed this summer without going too far over the cap and should be able to open the season under the $81.5MM upper limit even with Tarasenko’s $7.5MM on the books. If he is healthy, something that certainly hasn’t been proven to this point, he could once again give the Blues an elite goal-scoring option to go along with the rest of their deep forward group. Tarasenko scored at least 33 goals in five consecutive seasons before multiple shoulder surgeries kept him off the ice more than on it.

Remember, Tarasenko still holds many of the cards when it comes to a trade. He has two years remaining on his contract and holds a full no-trade clause, meaning he dictates which teams are possible destinations. The fact that he’s earning $9.5MM in actual salary this season certainly would be a deterrent for some clubs that are still dealing with financial ramifications from the last year, but when that number drops to $5.5MM in 2022-23, it certainly will become a lot more palatable. Even if there is a trade in the future, it appears as though Tarasenko is present, healthy, and ready to help the Blues for the time being.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Latest On Vladimir Tarasenko

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September 18: Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that general manager Doug Armstrong expects Tarasenko to be a member of the team when the puck drops on the NHL regular season. Trade options will continue to be explored to honor Tarasenko’s original request, but he’ll be expected to be a contributing member of the squad for now.

September 8: The St. Louis Blues are still one of the most interesting teams to watch this offseason. Despite a public trade request and a hot stove that was on fire earlier this summer, Vladimir Tarasenko still hasn’t been dealt. Training camp opens in just a few weeks and members of the team, including head coach Craig Berube, are now starting to have to explain how they’ll treat him like any other player should the season open with him on the roster. This isn’t how it was expected to go, but a trade involving the oft-injured sniper was always going to be difficult.

One of the biggest hurdles in any transaction is Tarasenko’s contract, which carries a cap hit of $7.5MM this season and next. It also includes a full no-trade clause, and though the 29-year-old winger is obviously willing to waive that for the right situation, contending teams would be hard-pressed to find enough cap space to fit him in. That’s where a middle man comes in, as reports had previously surfaced about teams–including the Seattle Kraken, up to the expansion draft–that would be willing to retain some of the salary as a go-between for a Tarasenko trade. We saw plenty of transactions like that at the deadline this season as teams struggled to deal with the flat salary cap.

At least one team is still willing to do just that for the Blues and whoever is interested in Tarasenko, according to Andy Strickland of Bally Sports Midwest. He believes that a third team would be involved if a Tarasenko deal does eventually happen, though gives no indication of which teams would be involved.

There are already 15 teams that have at least $80MM committed to this season, and though some of them will have more flexibility than that implies thanks to long-term injured reserve, none of them really could add Tarasenko at his full $7.5MM cap hit without moving out some other salary. Without a third team taking on some of the cap hit, that doesn’t leave a huge market for a player that has played just 34 games over the last two seasons.

At this point, Tarasenko is a member of the Blues, and unless something changes in the next few weeks, it will be on him to report to camp and prepare for a tenth season in St. Louis.

Snapshots: Senators, Merzlikins, Tarasenko

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Armed with a contract extension, Ottawa Senators GM Pierre Dorion is looking to make this next stage of his time with the team much different than the most recent stretch. According to Dorion, the rebuild is over. In an appearance on TSN 1200 in Ottawa today, he stated the following:

We’ve had a plan since we started this rebuild. I feel that we’re in the next stage now, it’s time to start to win… Last year, we felt we were a team that was hard to play against, but now it’s time to challenge to get two points every night, be in every game. Games that maybe you got a point last year, you need two this year… A lot of our younger players have reached a maturity stage in their career where they should be leading us and not be considered young players anymore. As a group, It’s time to start winning.

The Senators did take a small step forward last season, finishing with a 23-28-5 record that was neither the last in their division nor a bottom-five mark in the NHL for the first time since 2016-17. The season ended on a strong note with a 16-13-4 run to end the year. However, there is more work to be done for the Senators to regain relevance. The team is still young and inexperienced and lacking in depth in many areas. In order to compete in the deadly Atlantic Division, at least this season, Ottawa likely needs more than what their current roster can offer even at their very best. Fortunately, the Senators also have a copious amount of cap space – still under the cap floor for now – and Dorion mentioned having “several irons in the fire”. Perhaps the Senators will add an impact player or two before the season begins if they are really committed to taking a step forward this season.

  • Another team that could be looking to surprise this season will be the new-look Columbus Blue Jackets. The x-factor could be goaltender Elvis Merzlikins, who has his sights set on more than just winning the starting job over Joonas Korpisalo. Merzlikins tells The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline that the tragic death of close friend, teammate, and countryman Matiss Kivlenieks has instilled in him a drive to become one of the best goaltenders in the NHL.  “I’m gonna win a f—— Vezina for him,” Merzlikins proclaimed. “This is my goal. I believe I’m going to reach it. I’m not going to have any limits. I’m just gonna go all-in.” The 27-year-old goaltender has certainly shown signs of elite ability through his first two NHL seasons, recording a .920 save percentage and 2.54 GAA in 61 games. While he may seem far from competing for a Vezina Trophy, especially sharing starts with Korpisalo and playing for a team that is not expected to be a playoff contender, never underestimate the inspiration that a life-changing event can create. Merzlikins credits Kivlenieks with saving his family and that should be more than enough motivation for him to honor his friend to the best of his abilities.
  • With considerable cap space and a desire to add top talent, both Ottawa and Columbus could be good landing spots for Vladimir Tarasenko, who requested a trade out of St. Louis earlier this off-season. However, Blues head coach Craig Berube does not expect the star sniper to be going anywhere. In an appearance on the “Cam and Strick” podcast, Berube stated that he believes that Tarasenko will remain in St. Louis this season. Berube says that he has no hard feelings toward Tarasenko, who has maintained that he would like to be traded, and will treat him like any other player in helping him to succeed with the Blues in the event that he stays with the team as Berube expects. Berube states that the team is focusing on what they can control (Tarasenko) and not on what they can’t (the market) which could mean that he really will not be traded despite all indications.

Central Notes: Tarasenko, Klingberg, Predators

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There has been an expectation of a trade involving Vladimir Tarasenko for several months now with both sides admitting that a change of scenery would be beneficial.  However, between his $7.5MM AAV and his injury history, the interest hasn’t been strong and the veteran remains with the Blues.  Benjamin Hochman of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch suggests that at this point, St. Louis may be better off just holding onto the 29-year-old in the hopes that a good start to next season would boost his value around the league and remove some of the question marks surrounding his health.  That would be an outcome that is better than moving him with retention and/or taking a minimal return just to grant Tarasenko his wish to play elsewhere even though there could be some awkward moments given how public his trade request is.

More from the Central:

  • With Miro Heiskanen’s deal now done, Dallas has shifted their focus towards an extension for fellow blueliner John Klingberg. Mike Heika of the Stars’ team website notes that the negotiations could be tricky with Klingberg’s offensive production (only eight blueliners have more total points than Klingberg over his seven-year career) potentially allowing him to command a sizable raise on his current $4.25MM AAV.  He’ll be 30 when his next deal kicks in which makes it difficult to command a max-term contract and the team already has nearly $18MM tied up in their other three top-four defenders for next season and beyond; adding another big-ticket contract could put them among the highest-spending teams on the back end.
  • The Predators recently announced an affiliation extension with the ECHL’s Florida Everblades. Nashville has been with them since 2019-20 with Tanner Jeannot and Cole Smith being the players who suited up for the Everblades that have since seen NHL action.  The duration of the extension was not announced.

Snapshots: Jets, Tarasenko, Buchnevich

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The Winnipeg Jets will be in the market for defensemen when the trade freeze is lifted in a few days. GM Kevin Cheveldayoff spoke with NHL.com, explaining that the team is looking to improve the back end through trades or free agency, even though they have several young defensemen in the system already. Jordie Benn, Derek Forbort, and Tucker Poolman are all scheduled to become unrestricted free agents this summer.

There’s also the possibility that Dylan DeMelo is selected by the Seattle Kraken, leaving the Jets even more shorthanded. Currently, the team has just DeMelo, Josh Morrissey, Nathan Beaulieu, and Sami Niku under one-way contracts for next season. Logan Stanley and Neal Pionk are both restricted free agents, while Ville Heinola, who could be in line for a full-time role, is still on his entry-level contract. Even if that whole group was brought back, it simply wasn’t good enough to help the Jets really contend for the Stanley Cup, meaning a more substantial change could be in order.

  • The Seattle Kraken are reportedly considering a select-and-trade with St. Louis Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko, but Andy Strickland of Bally Sports Midwest tweets that it could get even more complicated than that. Strickland suggests a third team could be involved in any Tarasenko trade were the Kraken to choose him. That would open up the door for even more salary retention, potentially giving someone the 29-year-old forward at a bargain. Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic spoke with the doctor that performed Tarasenko’s most recent shoulder surgery, who explained that it is “rock solid” and suggested the sniper would be at full strength for the start of the 2021-22 season.
  • Strickland also tweets that the Blues have serious interest in New York Rangers forward Pavel Buchnevich, who is an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent this summer for the final time. Buchnevich is now 26, just a year away from UFA status, and appeared on Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff’s list of trade targets last week, with the scribe writing that Rangers GM Chris Drury has “engaged in conversation about the possibility of moving” him. With 20 goals and 48 points in 54 games this season, Buchnevich has blossomed into a true top-six option that could potentially replace some of the outgoing firepower in St. Louis. It’s not just Tarasenko that could be leaving the Blues, as Mike Hoffman, Jaden Schwartz and Tyler Bozak are also all pending UFAs.

Latest On Vladimir Tarasenko

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UPDATE: Bally Sports Midwest’s Andy Strickland reports that if the Seattle Kraken do select Tarasenko, he won’t be on the team for opening night. They’ll be trading him to a different team.

So you want Vladimir Tarasenko but can’t afford his entire cap hit. The St. Louis Blues won’t agree to a retained salary deal (at least not for a reasonable price). How do you get him? The answer may be the Seattle Kraken. According to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, teams have reached out to Seattle in hopes that they would select Tarasenko in the expansion draft only to retain salary and trade him afterward. The Kraken are apparently open to eating a portion of the contract for the right deal.

The 29-year-old winger was one of the key names left unprotected for this week’s draft, after his relationship with the Blues deteriorated over the last year. Tarasenko is coming off multiple shoulder surgeries and has lost trust in the Blues medical staff, according to several reports. Since the start of the 2019-20 season, he has played in just 34 regular season games, scoring seven goals and 24 points. Whether he’s healthy enough to contribute at a high-level next season is still completely unclear, though he did play in all four Blues playoffs games against the Colorado Avalanche–even scoring two goals in the deciding game four.

Of course, a deal like this would also come with an opportunity cost for the Blues. By selecting Tarasenko, they would be passing on the other options from the Blues roster. That includes 24-year-old defenseman Vince Dunn, who was also left unprotected despite registering 32 goals and 102 points in the first four seasons of his career. Dunn’s tenure in St. Louis has been rocky, with several healthy scratches, but he is also a young, offensive weapon that teams often covet.

That means whatever you’re offering for Tarasenko better be worth it, as the Kraken would be eating a portion of his $7.5MM cap hit, giving up a high-end (albeit risky) sniper, and missing the chance to select a young defenseman.

While Pagnotta doesn’t list the teams that would be interested, it’s easy to imagine several of the league’s top contenders would want to take the risk of a half-off Tarasenko. When healthy, he was one of the league’s most dominant goal scorers, putting up five consecutive seasons of at least 33 goals. If Seattle was willing to retain half of his cap hit, for instance, and Tarasenko proves healthy enough to get back to his previous totals, it would be quite a bargain for $3.75MM.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Poll: What’s The Biggest Protection List Surprise?

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The past 48 hours across the NHL have been nothing short of chaos. With protection lists for all 30 teams due at 3:00 PM ET yesterday, along with the ensuing transaction freeze, a flurry of movement at the deadline drastically changed how many teams were to approach the expansion draft. Projected Seattle picks such as Jason Dickinson and Adin Hill were dealt, along with bigger names like Ryan Ellis and Jared McCann.

That frenzy didn’t stop yesterday, however. With the protection lists not being made available to the public until this morning, nobody was quite sure what their team was going to do. All those questions were answered this morning, some of those answers having potentially seismic implications.

There were many surprise omissions from teams’ protection lists, but let’s start with the elephant in the room. After being first reported by TSN’s Pierre LeBrun last night, Montreal Canadiens netminder Carey Price waived his no-movement clause and was not protected by the team. It’s an incredible turn of events after the netminder guided the team to their first Stanley Cup Final since 1993 while being inarguably their most valuable player.

Another Canadian team made some waves this morning too. The Toronto Maple Leafs opted for a 4F-4D-1G protection scheme, leaving out the newly acquired McCann from their protected list. It doesn’t appear that there’s a side deal to protect him in place, as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman notes that McCann’s acquisition purely ensures that one of him or Alexander Kerfoot will remain on the roster in 2021-22. There were some other big surprises out of the East and Canada too, as Nino Niederreiter, Max Domi, Jordan Eberle, Evgenii Dadonov, and James van Riemsdyk were all somewhat unexpectedly left unprotected by their teams.

And then there’s the Vladimir Tarasenko saga in Missouri. The former St. Louis Blues superstar had requested a trade from the team earlier this offseason after a souring relationship, mostly caused by the team’s handling of his recent various shoulder injuries. He’s been left exposed by the team, meaning that they could use him for nothing rather than taking the best available trade offer. It breaks from practice, including the Columbus Blue Jackets’ protection of disgruntled defenseman Seth Jones.

So, we ask you, PHR readers, what shocked you the most about this weekend’s expansion news? Who was the biggest exposure surprise? Vote in our poll below.

[Mobile users, click here to vote!]

West Notes: Fiala, Smith, Tarasenko

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The Wild would prefer to work out a medium-term contract with pending RFA winger, Michael Russo of The Athletic suggested on Daily Faceoff’s DFO Rundown (audio link).  They’ve already given center Joel Eriksson Ek a max-term deal and offered one up to pending RFA winger Kirill Kaprizov; they don’t have the cap room to long-term with all of them.  Fiala is two years away from unrestricted free agency so a four or five-year deal would still buy out some UFA years but would keep the cap hit a little lower in the process.  He had a $3MM AAV on his most recent deal and could come close to doubling it this time around.  Russo added that he believes Fiala’s name has been dangled as a trade chip for a top-six center which would also explain their hesitance in working on a long-term agreement.

Elsewhere around the Western Conference:

  • The Oilers have made an offer to pending unrestricted free agent goaltender Mike Smith, reports Kurt Leavins of the Edmonton Journal. The 39-year-old had quite the bounce-back season in 2020-21, posting a .923 SV% and a 2.31 GAA in 32 games (30 starts) which has certainly boosted his stock heading into free agency.  Last fall, he was basically the fallback option but with Edmonton tendering an offer now, it’s clear they value him more this time around.  That should be enough to get him more than the $1.5MM base salary he had this season (plus $500K in bonuses).  Leavins notes that if a deal does get done, it’s likely that it will come after the expansion draft which means that Stuart Skinner would likely be protected in expansion.
  • The Bruins, Rangers, and Capitals are believed to have shown interest in Blues winger Vladimir Tarasenko with the Islanders also on the radar, reports Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Of that group, Boston makes the most sense financially as they have the cap space to absorb Tarasenko’s $7.5MM AAV without needing to match money and if they can’t reach an agreement with pending UFA Taylor Hall, they’ll have a need on the wing to fill.  The Rangers also have the cap room but their biggest need is down the middle.  Washington and the Islanders would need to match money as they’re projected to be capped out by the time they re-sign their own pending free agents which would make a deal more difficult.  Tarasenko has requested a trade from St. Louis and is working with the team to facilitate a deal.

Poll: Where Will Vladimir Tarasenko Be Traded?

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While most of the hockey world was focusing on last night’s Game 5 and the ensuing Cup-clinching victory by the Tampa Bay Lightning, there was one large story brewing in St. Louis. The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford was reporting that Blues winger Vladimir Tarasenko had requested a trade from the club earlier in the offseason. While Tarasenko trade rumors were nothing new this offseason, the declaration of a trade request definitely put the writing on the wall for his tenure in Missouri.

With more clarity coming today on the Tarasenko situation, he’s reportedly frustrated on how the Blues organization has handled his shoulder surgeries and the corresponding recoveries. While Rutherford’s reporting claims that Tarasenko now comes with a clean bill of health, the uncertainty surrounding his post-injury ceiling has got to be a bit of a red flag for teams interested.

Speaking of teams interested, Rutherford notes that both the New York Rangers and New York Islanders, as well as the Edmonton Oilers are all teams who are potential suitors.

The Oilers seem like the most natural fit. After all, their struggles to find legitimate linemates for Connor McDavid in the past have been well-documented. With the Oilers getting some cap space to work with this offseason, they’ve been active in most trade rumors. Tarasenko’s no different. If the Oilers can swing a deal, it would likely consist of a defense prospect as well as a relatively high draft pick, as well as a roster player. Tarasenko would inevitably play on McDavid’s right wing, likely with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins or potentially Jesse Puljujarvi on his off-wing flanking them on the left.

The Islanders also stand as a natural fit for the Russian winger, as the team has lacked scoring punch in recent seasons to push them over the top. However, salary is a concern for the cap-strapped Islanders, who also have Adam Pelech and Anthony Beauvillier to sign to contracts this offseason. The Rangers also are an interesting idea, considering Tarasenko would get the opportunity to play with countryman Artemi Panarin.

So, PHR readers, we ask you – where do you think Vladimir Tarasenko ends up after all of this? Vote below!

Mobile users, click here to vote!

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