“I’m starting to lean towards keeping Vladimir Tarasenko.”
Despite being the subject of trade talk, Wally expresses his reasoning in keeping Tarasenko past this season.
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@Ottawa Senators
3 Comments
Vlad is +13!!!
I love the line "let's see how he plays when it matters"… I mean he does have a Stanley Cup ring, I think that counts for something. He is the exact kind of veteran this team needs which is the guy that know what it takes to win one of those. He has 31 pts in 40 games and is at a +15 which I mean sure is a team stat and can depend on different factors, but it still shows he's been solid on both ends of the ice. He is well liked in the room too. The only issue is price, as I'd rather keep Chychrun than Tank, but if he wants to stay at 4 mill x 3 years, it would be hard to not take that deal. Especially considering he won't be that 40 goal guy anymore, but a really dependable player in the Top 6. And despite playing on the 3rd line for a good chunk of the year so far, I've never seen him complain about his deployment and it does seem like he cares when the team is doing poorly. He does not seem like a passerby waiting to cash his next big payday which was my big concern when Ottawa signed him.
People have preconceived notions about Tarasenko and they need their heads examined. He plays hard and pretty gritty every night and is still very fast when needed.
We need experience and he has exactly the experience we need, including winning the cup, btw, so what's the question about pressure games?
He's the 5th highest point earner on the team, despite playing less minutes and with 3rd line players. (btw, way more than Norris per game).
He's a +15, which ties for best on the team. Hello, we need our 2-way players to stay (btw Norris is -4)
We should definitely offer something fair to keep Tarasenko, and I really hope he decides to stay.