RADIO
On Tuesday, it was reported by the St. Louis Blue’s official website that the team has resigned emerging superstar Vladimir Tarasenko to an eight-year, $60M contract extension.
Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said in a statement, on the Tarasenko extension, “We are not going to be active signing other players until we get him taken care of. We are going to take care of our restricted free agents but he's the primary guy. He knows it; the hockey world knows it. The St. Louis Blues will not be in a spot on July 1 to not be able to match any offer sheet made to him. If it means allowing players to go to free agency, making players sweat it out on what their deals are going to be, he's the priority for us.”
Tarasenko, 23, who was drafted 16th overall by the Blues in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, had his breakout year last season scoring 37 goals and 36 assists in 77 games. He saw a big increase in performance from his already impressive sophomore campaign in which he only played 64 games but tallied 21 goals and 22 assists.
At the conclusion of last season he finished the year tied for the fifth most goals in the NHL with San Jose’s Joe Pavelski, Dallas’ Tyler Seguin and Montreal’s Max Pacioretty. Upon further analysis, Tarasenko had an even better season statistically when considering he had the third highest even strength goals (29), the eleventh most shots (264) and scored six game-winning goals.
His contract will carry an AAV and cap hit of $7.5M, although per Fox Sports’ Andy Strickland, Tarasenko’s contract will be paid $8M in his each of his first two seasons, $7M for each of the next two, $9.5M in his fifth and seventh season, $5.5M in his sixth before dropping to $5M in his last year of his contract extension. The amount of money fluctuating that greatly from year to year is rather odd.
Tarasenko will be a dominant first line left wing for the Blues for years to come, however he will need to become a more consistent all-around player for St. Louis in the future.
He will become an unrestricted free agent in 2023-2024 at the age of 31.
