If this is it for Vladimir Tarasenko

If this is it for Vladimir Tarasenko, we have nothing but thanks and gratification for what he has done for the St. Louis Blues. Read below to see why the Tarasenko era could be ending in St. Louis.

10 years, 606 games, 252 goals and 272 assists for a total of 524 points. Most importantly, one Stanley Cup was brought back to the city of St. Louis. That is the career of Vladimir Tarasenko in a nutshell and we could not be more thankful for what he has done for the team and the city.

Nothing is set in stone and nothing has been done yet but all signs are pointing towards Vladimir Tarasenko being traded away from the St. Louis Blues. There is too much smoke currently for there not to be a fire. While it is very sad that Tarasenko could be on his way out, it is the right time to make a move.

Even after a career year that the Blues saw from Tarasenko this last season, the focus of Tarasenko is still to be moved to a different team. With the NHL Draft coming this evening, it would not be surprising to see Tarasenko moved before or during the draft.

Let’s take a look back at Tarasenko’s career and how the Blues can prepare for not having 91 wearing the Blue Note.

As good as gone

With the most recent picture that Tarasenko posted on Twitter, everyone is overreacting and trying to read into what his tweet meant. There are zero words, just a single picture of water.

pic.twitter.com/YzPCrvgHes

— Vladimir Tarasenko (@tara9191) July 7, 2022

What could this mean? I think we all know what it means because Tarasenko has not tweeted in over a year until today. Oh, and by the way, the Florida Panthers have been listed as a team that Tarasenko would waive his full no-trade clause for.

In the 2010 NHL Draft, Vladimir Tarasenko was selected 16th overall by the St. Louis Blues. The young 18-year-old from Russia had a lot of promise surrounding his NHL career. Tarasenko would not make his debut until the fall of 2012 and the rest was history.

Blues fans instantly fell for Tarasenko when he scored his first two goals on his first two shot attempts in a 6-0 rout over the Detroit Red Wings. Tarasenko would arguably be the face of the franchise for years to come as he dazzled the league with his play.

Unfortunately, the relationship would start to fade after two botched shoulder surgeries from the team doctor. Tarasenko would miss a lot of time from 2019 to 2021. Everything went further south after Alex Pietrangelo left, leaving a vacancy for the captain position. Tarasenko was passed up on the letter for Ryan O’Reilly who had just joined the team the year before.

Tarasenko was not happy with the decision made by Doug Armstrong, the coaching staff and organization. Rightfully so, after giving everything for an organization for so many years and then being passed up for a guy who has been on the team for a year would be tough to swallow.

What’s next?

As of right now, no one knows. Reports came out yesterday that the Blues were shopping Torey Krug as well. Krug was signed to a seven-year deal with St. Louis after the 2019-2020 season. With the team facing cap space issues, it would be possible to see the Blues make multiple moves before the beginning of the season.

Whether there is a lot of smoke surrounding this or the St. Louis fans are crazy for this player, Matthew Tkachuk has been listed as a possible trade candidate for St. Louis. The name Tkachuk sounds familiar because his dad was a long-time St. Louis Blue and a fan favorite in his time with St. Louis.

Matthew Tkachuk is a 24-year-old star currently with the Calgary Flames. He is coming off a career year by far with 104 points on the season. He is a top 10 player in the league and he is reportedly not happy with his current situation in Calgary.

It would not be surprising to see St. Louis pass on trading for Tkachuk because he is a free agent after this next season.

Multiple reports this morning show that Calgary is not interested in trading Tkachuk and would like to re-sign him this off-season. If there is no interest from Tkachuk, the Flames may have no choice but to eventually deal him for a large return.

There are many options for St. Louis to venture down but right now we are all playing the waiting game to see what happens with the draft coming tonight.