Vladimir Tarasenko was traded to the New York Rangers by the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.
St. Louis received forward Sammy Blais, defenseman prospect Hunter Skinner, a conditional first-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft and a fourth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. New York also received defenseman Niko Mikkola.
“I’m focused on the games,” Tarasenko said at NHL All-Star Game Media Day on Feb. 2. “I don’t think I should waste my time and energy to be focused on things I cannot control. You can ask [Bllues general manager Doug Armstrong] what’s going to happen.”
Tarasenko, in the final season of an eight-year contract he signed with the Blues on July 7, 2015, had a full no-trade clause.
[RELATED: 2022-23 NHL Trade Tracker]
“He’s obviously an elite scorer, terrific player,” Rangers general manager Chris Drury said. “We felt like acquiring a top-six scoring winger was something we needed.”
The 31-year-old forward has 29 points (10 goals, 19 assists) in 38 games this season.
Tarasenko had 82 points last season (34 goals, 48 assists) in 75 games after he played 34 games the previous two (2019-21) and did not make his 2020-21 season debut until March 6 because of surgery on his left shoulder for the third time Sept. 17, 2020. He had 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) in 24 regular-season games in 2020-21 and missed the final six games and eight of the last nine with a lower-body injury. He returned for the Stanley Cup Playoffs and scored two goals in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup First Round, when the Blues were swept by the Colorado Avalanche in the best-of-7 series.
The No. 16 pick by St. Louis in the 2010 NHL Draft, Tarasenko has 553 points (262 goals, 291 assists) in 644 regular-season games. He had at least 33 goals in five consecutive seasons (2014-19), including an NHL career-high 40 in 2015-16. He’s fifth in Blues history in goals and points, and second with 41 postseason goals, 26 behind Brett Hull. Tarasenko’s 11 goals were second on St. Louis to Jaden Schwartz (12) during the 2019 playoffs, when the Blues won the Stanley Cup.
Tarsenko and Mikkola will each make his Rangers debut against the Seattle Kraken on Friday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN, MSGSN, ROOT-NW).
“It’s something we’ve been looking at for a while and when the pieces started to come together, I didn’t really see any reason to wait,” Drury said. “It certainly gives the two new players a little more time to acclimate to our group. There’s still a few weeks before the deadline (March 3) but we’re excited to be able to do it now and get them in the lineup but tomorrow.”
Mikkola has three assists in 50 NHL games with the Blues this season. The 26-year-old has 20 points (four goals, 16 assists) in 139 NHL games and two assists in 16 playoff games. He can become a UFA after the season.
“Yeah, he was a big piece of it,” Drury said. “As we as we pushed along on the deal, this was a piece that I really wanted in there and to have him in there now and not wait on it. He’s a real good shutdown defenseman. Obviously he’s got size (6-foot-4, 209 pounds) and reach, like K’Andre (Miller) does. A lot of good reports on him. We’ve done our homework and feel good about adding him to our D-corp.”
St. Louis (23-25-3), which has lost five straight games, is sixth in the Central Division, nine points behind the third-place Avalanche, who hold the final playoff spot from the division.
The Rangers (29-14-8) are third in the Metropolitan Division, four points behind the second-place New Jersey Devils. They host the Seattle Kraken on Friday (7 p.m. ET;Â NHLN, SN, MSGSN, ROOT-NW, SN NOW).
Blais, acquired by the Rangers from the Blues in a trade for Pavel Buchnevich on July 23, 2021, had no goals and nine assists in 54 games over the past two seasons.
Skinner, 21, has not played in the NHL. The fourth-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft (112), had eight points (three goals, five assists) in 22 games for Hartford of the American Hockey League.
The conditional first-round pick going to the Blues will be the later of the two that the Rangers currently have (its own and the Dallas Stars’ pick from Nils Lundkvist trade). The 2024 fourth-round pick becomes a third-round pick if the Rangers make the playoffs this season.
Photo courtesy of NHL.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.