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
Isles should work out a deal with the Kraken. The Kraken will probably take Eberly or Bailey in the expansion draft so maybe Isles can send a prospect and 2nd rounder to Kraken for Tarasenko and Kraken eat half of Tarasenko cap hit.
honestly i don’t see who WOULDN’T want Tara at half price. it’s still a risk, but the upside there is crazy.
Would this not break the rules about circumventing the cap?
Retaining a portion of his salary?
No. They just can’t trade him back to the Blues. Every other team they are ok to trade him to and retain some of his cap hit
Ahh, that makes sense.
Who would the Blues rather lose? Perhaps the Kraken can ask the Blues for a fee to save the guy they want.
So basically they give up dunn and eat half. They must want at least a 1st and a good D prospect
So is his no-trade nullified if he’s drafted, or does he still need to approve any trade by Seattle?
can’t get traded right back to the team he came from, any other team, Yes. Blues has to wait 1 full season…
The offer would have to be really good. Vince Dunn is a near ideal pick for an expansion team.
Who wants to take on 7.5M in cap space and 9.5M in actual dollars next year?
the icelanders will.
Wolf “The Dentist” Stanson already has Gunnar Stahl. Also this situation reeks of Chuck Fletcher.
This bothered me about the Vegas expansion and now the Seattle expansion. Teams should be allowed to protect more than 11. And why does an expansion team get to select at the beginning of the 1st round of the amateur draft? Fans of crappy teams at least have a high draft pick to look forward to after a miserable season. Seattle hadn’t earned that yet. They should be selecting at the end of the first round.
Sabres fan?
I’ve seen many people saying some version of “expansion teams should SUFFER for DECADES!!!! This is isn’t FAIR!!!!” and it doesn’t make much sense.
It’s in virtually no one’s interest to have expansion teams stink as a form of hazing or making them earn it or whatever.
While I agree that an expansion team shouldn’t have to suffer for a decade, they also shouldn’t be handed a Stanley cup contender in year one. The NHL needs to balance it a bit. I mean, seeing guys like Fluery (last one), Price, Weber, Domi, etc. exposed is kind of wild
Well draft pick slots are based on the previous season’s points. Since Seattle had 0 points and 0 wins, one could easily argue they should have had the best odds for the #1 pick.
Just to finish the thought…
Imagine how much better of a hockey market Columbus might be if it didn’t take an almost literal generation for them to win their first playoff series.
Nashville took off…once they got consistently good. Same with Carolina.
Florida and Arizona have never been able to win with any consistency and those markets are castles made of sand as a result.
Seattle also had the least number of losses in the league last year. There is only one reason why the expansion draft is set up as is and that is because it cost $650 million to join.
they’re starting from nothing. why should they have anything but the #1 pick?
Give them the picks between the worst playoff team and the best non playoff team. They already are getting a shot at some decent veteran players.
Tarasenko w/ 50% retained for Rasmus Kupari and the 49th pick; at least that’s what Miss Cleo told me.