Vladimir Tarasenko is caught off guard!

Forward Vladimir Tarasenko remains available on the free-agent market and stunned everyone earlier this week when he fired his agent and hired Pat Brisson and JP Barry as his new representatives. Though it was previously reported by Elliotte Friedman that Tarasenko could be among the Carolina Hurricanes’ free-agent targets, with his new representatives taking over, the insider mentioned how the Russian winger had no deals in place with any teams, and the process would start again.

Larry Brooks of the New York Post also stated that Tarasenko had multiple offers of varying lengths from contenders to rebuilding clubs worth between $5.5 million to $6 million, with the Hurricanes being among them. However, he rejected them all and changed agents.

This is quite messy for one of the top free agents left on the market, and Andy Strickland dove into what’s going on with Tarasenko. He believes the Russian forward never anticipated the free agency to go down like this.

“I don’t think Tarasenko ever envisioned the free agent market being what it is. With players like Orlov being in same age group, albeit a different position, getting $7.75 million over two years, I’m sure there has been some serious frustration with the lack of money available,” tweeted Strickland.

The Hurricanes are the ones who signed defenseman Dmitry Orlov, to a two-year, $7.75MM AAV deal.

This is the number Tarasenko is reportedly looking to cash in but as a yearly salary. The star forward could seek a new contract close to the $7.5 million he received on his previous deal he signed with the St. Louis Blues.

However, most teams lack the cap space to offer such hefty deals, and this is what is messing up Tarasenko’s summer plans…

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