Former Blues player throws Tarasenko under the bus amid trade rumors

To put it lightly, the St. Louis Blues have simply not been good enough this season after an offseason in which it looked like the team was ramping things up for a healthy playoff run in 2018-19. Just two months into the season and the Blues look more like a Draft Lottery contender than a Stanley Cup contender, which obviously led to the firing of former head coach Mike Yeo and has now led to some seriously wild trade speculation. The name at the center of rumors coming out of St. Louis: Sniper Vladimir Tarasenko. 

With nine goals and 20 points in 31 games this season and with four consecutive 30+ goal seasons in Tarasenko’s back pocket, there’s no denying his elite level skill. But with so much on the line in St. Louis and with GM Doug Armstrong on the hot seat, could the Blues be forced to move their most consistent scorer? 

On a recent radio segment with Calgary’s Sportsnet 960, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman dropped some inside info on Tarasenko’s fate and even managed to uncover just how Tarasenko’s teammates view him. Warning to Blues fans: this isn’t pretty.

Check it out:

“If you also take a look at it, he’s going to make 7.5 over the next four years,” noted Friedman. “For a guy who can score like he has, that’s now a really good contract. How many guys who can score like Tarasenko does are going to make more than 7.5 - a lot. So that’s a good number. 

“Now, just on Tarasenko - the line Nick (Kypreos) used on the weekend was ‘not part of the problem, not part of the solution.’ 

“I wrote a couple of weeks ago that they were looking at dealing him because they weren’t always happy with him. And I got a call from a guy who used to play for the Blues. And he basically said to me, ‘Look. Tarasenko,’ he basically said that, ‘On the ice, great player. He’s not a leader,’ - which not everybody is, but he said that there were people on that team who use Tarasenko to deflect their own issues. That they blame him when they should be looking in the mirror. 

“And this guy said to me, ‘I’m not the biggest Tarasenko fan, but I do think some of the criticism is unfair.’

“So what are you getting? You’re getting a guy who can score, but a guy who is a bit flawed. And a team like Carolina, which I think has waited, they’re dying for goals. I could see it.”

If this is all true it certainly explains the rumors around Tarasenko. At $7.5 million per season, he simply HAS to be part of the solution… he cannot be a passenger. It may not be in his nature to lead, so some of the criticism is unfounded… but maybe another NHL team might look at him the same way the Pittsburgh Penguins looked at Phil Kessel? Before his trade the the Pens, Kessel was a convenient whipping boy during his time with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Once freed from Toronto, Kessel hit a new gear and went on the win back to back Stanley Cups with the Pens. Could Tarasenko get a new lease on life, as well?