The Senators have brought in some help up front, announcing the signing of winger Vladimir Tarasenko. The veteran receives a one-year, $5MM contract. Tarasenko also receives a full no-trade clause. GM Pierre Dorion released the following statement about the signing:
Vladimir’s a natural goal scorer. He’s a dynamic player who can score from anywhere in the offensive zone, as well as an underrated playmaker who’s made a career out of driving offence for he and his linemates. An established performer in the regular season and in the playoffs, we’re thrilled to add a player of his calibre to our lineup.
The 31-year-old was the top free agent forward left on the open market despite coming off what would be considered a down year by his standards. Tarasenko started the season with St. Louis, picking up 10 goals and 19 assists in 38 games before the Blues moved him to the Rangers a little before the trade deadline. He wasn’t able to maintain that level of production, however, notching eight goals with 13 helpers in 31 regular season contests while adding three goals and an assist in their first-round loss to New Jersey.
However, despite the quieter year, Tarasenko is still viewed as a strong scoring threat as Dorion alluded to. He has surpassed the 30-goal mark six times since 2013-14 while dealing with considerable injury trouble in two of the years that he didn’t get to that level. That helped slot him in third in our annual Top 50 UFA list.
While Tarasenko might not be a full-time top-liner anymore, the Senators don’t necessarily need him to fill that role as they’ll count on Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, and Josh Norris to carry the bulk of the scoring load. Instead, they’ll be turning to him to help replace Alex DeBrincat, who was moved to Detroit earlier this month. Tarasenko and veteran Claude Giroux will likely fill in some of the gaps in the top six, giving the Sens a group that looks relatively deep on paper as they look to get to the playoffs for the first time since 2016-17.
However, it’s also a group that is fairly expensive on paper as this basically puts Ottawa at the $83.5MM Upper Limit of the salary cap based on CapFriendly’s projections. That’s particularly notable as the team still needs to re-sign center Shane Pinto this summer. It also seems likely that they’d prefer to carry 13 forwards on the active roster so they’ll need to create some cap room in the coming weeks to do so while their preference now might be to do a one-year deal to help keep his cap hit as low as possible. While Toronto will be able to get cap relief from placing Matt Murray on LTIR when the season begins, the Senators will not receive any cap relief for the portion of Murray’s contract that they’re carrying on their books from trading him last summer.
Meanwhile, it’s an interesting end to a contract saga that has been a bit odd for Tarasenko. He had strong interest early in free agency but wasn’t able to come to terms on a new deal and less than a week into the open market, he dismissed Paul Theofanous, hiring Pat Brisson and J.P. Barry instead. At the time, the speculation was that he had multiple multi-year deals worth a little more than he ultimately wound up signing for. That’s good news for Ottawa as they’ve now landed a capable scoring threat who will be motivated for a big year with the hopes of cashing in on what’s projected to be a more favorable free agent market next summer, making it a possible win-win contract for both sides.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Great move for both sides. Now get a real coach!
He’ll be a Ranger again at the deadline.
Wow, 1 year doesn’t surprise me but 5 per does. I mean 6.25 would be the floor i would have thought, then in a canadian market. He would have made equal or more taking 3 mil in Dallas or Florida
Dallas didn’t want him. They like Dadonov. And they wanted a vet for two years, that they could have on a team friendly contract, till their kids like Stankoven and Johnston grow up.
PROJECTED CAP HIT: $83,467,380 PROJECTED LTIR USED: $0 PROJECTED CAP SPACE: $32,620
They have $900K in cap space with only 11 forwards signed and Pinto yet to sign. I guess Trono is the mdel to follow this summer. Who goes to Robidas Island??
CapFriendly must have uodated/changed the numbers after I was there earlier.
Tarasenko is talented but past his prime. And will he be motivated? I think he will do ok but I don’t expect 30+ goals.
Well, this will be interesting to watch. The 3 ring circus arrives in Ottawa.
Which Tarasenko? The injured one? The lazy one? Or the 30 goal scorer?
You may get 30 out of him because he’ll be motivated to get that contract so he can go back to being lazy again. He had his chance in NY and blew it.
Ottawa still needs a coach and an upgrade between the pipes.
I guess that they will run with 11 forwards and 7 D for their games as it stands now……….LOL!!!!!!!!
Guess the Sens will just fill that wing spot with a new UFA every season.
Risk-free acquisition w/term and price… And I agree that this could be just a holdover for a deadline move if he’s a bad fit/has lackluster stats…
Is Ottawa any scarier now? Hmmmm…. Time will tell.
Has to play top 6 mins to be effective but if not then what a waste I hate to say rather have Patty Kane instead..
This team sucks, I don’t see this acquisition helping them not suck either.
Too much money.