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.
The Everblades jerseys are the most exciting thing in the Preds organization. :/
Trade Tarasenko for Eichel.
Tarasenko and 2 firsts, sure.
Blues cannot afford Eichel. Would ROR even want to play with him again?
I think you all overvalue Eichel.
I don’t.
Two firsts? Bahahahaha!!! With his unknown health concerns going forward? No. Not two firsts.
Nothing against Eichel but just like vlady’s shoulder eichel has the same question on his neck and with 5y @ 10mil IMO that’s a bigger risk than vlady. Eichel even with the surgery he wants he could be one hit from being done and the note are on the hook for 10 mil for 5 years instead of 7.5 for 2
They were prepared to lose him for nothing in the expansion draft. Why would they expect any sort of significant return now?