Major turnaround in Vladimir Tarasenko trade situation

There is a sense that Vladimir Tarasenko’s wish has not come true. It’s been weeks since we’ve learned that the veteran forward wants out of St. Louis and that the Blues veteran forward provided his team with a list of approved trade destinations. 

Free agency came and went, and no trade took place to move the veteran to a desired destination. There are apparently only three team left in the mix with the desire to acquire his services, and they include the New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers and Islanders and the Ottawa Senators. 

However, nothing has taken and this prompted head coach Craig Berube to reveal a major turnaround in this trade speculation as he announced on the air of the Cam and Strick podcast that he believes Tarasenko will remain in St. Louis and mentioned that he won’t treat him any different. 

“I expect ‘Vladi’ to play for us,” Berube explained. “I’m going to treat him like every other player. And yeah, he asked to be traded, and things happen, but again, you know, we want Vladi to play good hockey for us. … He’s going to have a role on the team like he always has, we’ll deal with it internally and we’ll go from there.

“You only can control so many things and there’s things you can’t control sometimes. So, you just focus on what you can control. And that’s what we’re going to do.”

We should expect Tarasenko to wear the same colours in 2021-22. 

Tarasenko has two years left on his current contract, which carries a cap hit of $7.5 million. It does not help. The Blues could therefore wait to move him at the trade deadline where three clubs would share portions of a player’s annual cap hit, but time is running out and it almost sounds like the team has come to terms with keeping him in the fold. 

It’s been a tough go for the veteran forward. Since he hoisted the Stanley Cup on Boston ice in 2019, injuries have seen Tarasenko suit up for just 34 of a possible 127 games. He won a Stanley Cup with the Blues in 2019.