Tarasenko Nearing a Return

Blues sniper has been practicing.

Mar 01, 2021

Friday’s waiver wire piece on The Athletic is here.

First, let’s talk Vladimir Tarasenko

The St. Louis Blue sniper is practicing and nearing a return to the Blues lineup. It’s sooner than I might have expected given the short turnaround from the end of last season to the start of this season.

“Good chance” that Tarasenko plays on the Blues’ upcoming road trip.

Jeremy Rutherford @jprutherford

Berube on Tarasenko: "He's itching and ready to go. It's been a while for him, and a long road. He's done a real good job of conditioning and doing what he had to do to be in shape and rehab everything. So the credit goes to him and the training staff on our hockey team."

"He's got to get more involved out there in some drills with real body contact and competitiveness,” Berube continued. “So let's get there first and then we'll see."

Tarasenko had 10 points (3 G, 7 A) and 26 shots on goal in 10 games before getting shut down last season and he tried to give it a go in the playoffs but didn’t manage a point in four games. Then he had shoulder surgery. He had five straight seasons with more than 30 goals before that.

When he does return, Tarasenko will move into a first line and first-unit power play role. He is one of the few game-breaking offensive performers on the roster. If there is a player to be concerned about it might be Jordan Kyrou, who should still have a spot in the top six when the Blues are healthy – that means Jaden Schwartz and Tarasenko, among others (Robert Thomas, Tyler Bozak), playing – but all it would take is putting Mike Hoffman or Zach Sanford into a top-six role and Kyrou could slide down to the third line.

No reason to panic just yet about the fate of Jordan Kyrou and, for the Blues, getting Tarasenko back could be a huge offensive boost.

Sunday Games

Boston 4 N.Y. Rangers 1

BOS C Charlie Coyle 2 G (3 G, 1 A in past 4 GP)

BOS D Charlie McAvoy 1 G, 1 A (2 G, 2 A in past 5 GP)

BOS RW David Pastrnak 2 A (9 G, 9 A in 12 GP)

Philadelphia 3 Buffalo 0

PHI LW James van Riemsdyk 1 G, 1 A (7 G, 13 A in past 12 GP)

PHI RW Joel Farabee 2 A (6 G, 6 A in past 9 GP)

PHI G Carter Hart 28-save shutout. (.899 SV% in 12 starts)

BUF G Jonas Johansson had 35 saves on 38 shots.

Columbus 1 Nashville 3

NSH G Juuse Saros stopped 28 of 29 shots for the victory. (.898 SV% in a dozen starts)

Washington 3 New Jersey 2

WSH LW Jakub Vrana 1 G, 1 A

WSH RW Tom Wilson 2 A (1 G, 3 A in past 4 GP)

WSH G Ilya Samsonov returned to action and stopped 19 of 21 shots for the win. It was his first game since January 17.

Pittsburgh 0 N.Y. Islanders 2

NYI RW Oliver Wahlstrom 1 G, 1 A (2 G, 3 A in past 4 GP)

NYI RW Josh Bailey 2 A

NYI G Ilya Sorokin recorded a 20-save shutout. (.912 SV% in five starts)

Detroit 2 Chicago 7

CHI LW Alex DeBrincat 1 G, 3 A (3 G, 6 A during a six-game point streak)

CHI RW Patrick Kane 1 G, 2 A (5 G, 12 A in past 9 GP)

CHI RW Ryan Carpenter 2 G

CHI G Kevin Lankinen had 44 saves on 46 shots. (.924 SV% in 15 GP)

Chicago’s top line of Alex DeBrincat, Pius Suter, and Patrick Kane was on the ice for three goals for and none against.

Detroit’s Anthony Mantha, Bobby Ryan, Alex Biega, Christian Djoos, and Filip Hronek were all on the ice for three goals against.

Saturday Games

Calgary 6 Ottawa 3

OTT RW Drake Batherson 1 G, 1 A (5 G, 3 A during a 5-game point streak)

OTT D Thomas Chabot 2 A (7 A in past 5 GP)

CGY C Mikael Backlund 1 G, 2 A

CGY RW Andrew Mangiapane 1 G, 1 A (7 G, 3 A in past 13 GP)

CGY LW Matthew Tkachuk 1 G, 1 A (2 G, 4 A in past 5 GP)

CGY LW Johnny Gaudreau 2 A

OTT D Nikita Zaitsev and Thomas Chabot were both on the ice for three goals against, and none for, during 5-on-5 play.

CGY RW Andrew Mangiapane and C Mikael Backlund were both on the ice for four goals for and one against. CGY LW Johnny Gaudreau, CGY LW Matthew Tkachuk, and CGY D Nikita Nesterov were on the ice for three goals for and none against.

Washington 5 New Jersey 2

NJ C Nico Hischier 1 G, 1 A

WSH LW Carl Hagelin 2 A

WSH D John Carlson 2 A (1 G, 6 A in past 5 GP)

Philadelphia 3 Buffalo 0

PHI C Sean Couturier 1 G, 1 A (5 G, 5 A during a 6-game point streak)

PHI G Brian Elliott earned a 23-save shutout. (.931 SV% in 8 GP)

Columbus 1 Nashville 2

NSH D Mattias Ekholm 2 G

NSH G Juuse Saros stopped 29 of 30 shots for the win.

Toronto 4 Edmonton 0

TOR RW Mitch Marner 1 G, 1 A (3 G, 6 A in past 5 GP)

TOR C John Tavares 2 A

TOR G Jack Campbell stopped all 30 shots for the shutout win.

EDM C Connor McDavid and D Darnell Nurse were both on the ice for three goals against.

Pittsburgh 4 N.Y. Islanders 3 (OT)

NYI C Brock Nelson 1 G, 1 A

PIT D Kris Letang 2 G, 1 A (4 G, 3 A in past 5 GP)

PIT C Sidney Crosby 1 G, 1 A (3 G, 7 A in past 10 GP)

Carolina 4 Florida 3 (SO)

FLA RW Patric Hornqvist 1 G, 1 A

CAR D Brett Pesce 2 A (2 G, 10 A in past 15 GP)

Dallas 0 Tampa Bay 5

TB C Anthony Cirelli 1 G, 1 A (3 G, 1 A in past 4 GP)

TB RW Steven Stamkos 1 G, 1 A (6 G, 3 A in past 8 GP)

TB RW Tyler Johnson 2 A

TB D Mikhail Sergachev 2 A (1 G, 13 A in past 14 GP)

TB G Andrei Vasilevskiy had 18 saves for the shutout. (.938 SV% in 16 starts)

Detroit 5 Chicago 3

CHI D Adam Boqvist 2 A (1 G, 4 A in past 5 GP)

DET LW Evgeny Svechnikov 1 G, 1 A (2 G, 1 A in 2 GP)

DET C Frans Nielsen 1 G, 1 A

DET C Robby Fabbri 2 A (2 G, 5 A in past 9 GP)

DET C Valtteri Filppula 2 A

DET D Marc Staal was on the ice for three goals for and none against.

Los Angeles 3 Minnesota 4 (OT)

MIN D Matt Dumba 1 G, 1 A (1 G, 3 A in past 5 GP)

MIN LW Jordan Greenway 2 A

LA LW Adrian Kempe 1 G, 1 A

LA D Drew Doughty 1 G, 1 A (2 G, 8 A in past 9 GP)

LA C Anze Kopitar 2 A (4 G, 19 A in 20 GP)

MIN D Jared Spurgeon and D Ryan Suter were both on the ice for three goals for and none against during 5-on-5 play.

Colorado 6 Arizona 2

COL RW Joonas Donskoi 1 G, 1 A

COL LW Andre Burakovsky 2 A

COL RW Mikko Rantanen 2 A (1 G, 7 A in past 6 GP)

COL D Samuel Girard 2 A (1 G, 6 A in past 8 GP)

St. Louis 7 San Jose 6

SJ RW Timo Meier 2 G, 1 A

SJ LW Evander Kane 2 G (5 G, 5 A in past 10 GP)

SJ RW Kevin Labanc 1 G, 1 A (2 G, 4 A in past 5 GP)

SJ C Logan Couture 1 G, 1 A (8 G, 4 A in past 10 GP)

SJ D Brent Burns 2 A

STL D Marco Scandella 2 G, 1 A

STL LW Zach Sanford 1 G, 1 A

STL C Ryan O’Reilly 1 G, 1 A (2 G, 3 in past 4 GP)

STL defensemen Marco Scandella and Vince Dunn were both on the ice for three goals for and none against during 5-on-5 play. STL defenseman Nikko Mikkola was on the ice for three goals against.

Vegas 3 Anaheim 2 (OT)

ANA Rickard Rakell 1 G, 1 A

VGK C William Karlsson 2 G (2 G, 4 A in past 4 GP)

VGK D Alex Pietrangelo 1 G, 1 A (1 G, 3 A in past 3 GP)

VGK D Shea Theodore 2 A (3 G, 9 A in past 12 GP)

Montreal 1 Winnipeg 2 (OT)

WPG LW Nikolaj Ehlers 1 G, 1 A (5 G, 5 A in past 9 GP)

WPG G Connor Hellebuyck stopped 40 of 41 shots to earn the W. (.918 SV% in 16 starts)

Digging Deep

Pittsburgh Penguins LW Jared McCann returned from injury and moves into the spot opened up by an injury to Jason Zucker and that is skating on the left side of Evgeni Malkin. McCann has six points (3 G, 3 A) in 13 games but played a season-high 19:05 Saturday and as much as McCann has earned a rep as a solid two-way player he is also noted for having a great shot, so maybe an offensive role could pay off for him. (3% Yahoo)

More waiver pickups for this week:

Pavel Zacha (4 G, 8 A during a 10-game point streak)

Kevin Labanc (2 G, 4 A in past 5 GP)

Drake Batherson (5 G, 3 A during a 5-game point streak)

Florida Panthers put RW Brett Connolly on waivers

The veteran winger has been a solid 5-on-5 scorer, scoring 61 of his 71 goals at evens during the past four seasons. This season, he has three points (1 G, 2 A) in 16 games and has been largely relegated to the fourth line, which is not a great return on a $3.5 million cap hit. That his contract runs for two more seasons after this one does have to be considered as a factor for other teams to consider and it is likely why he was not claimed. Maybe a trade can be worked out but this is a tough spot for Connolly, who had been a reliable player in multiple stops.

The Edmonton Oilers claimed goaltender Alex Stalock on waivers from the Minnesota Wild. The Oilers had been so desperate for a backup goaltender earlier in the season, when Mike Smith was injured, and now they have some depth at the position. For the Wild, this helps solidify Kaapo Kahkonen’s place on the roster and now the question is whether Kahkonen will outduel Cam Talbot for the starting job.