The Detroit Red Wings have signed Vladimir Tarasenko to a two-year, $9.5M contract.
This deal means a cap hit of $4.75M per year. Tarasenko has been moving around the NHL lately, after spending 11 years in St. Louis and then getting traded to the New York Rangers last season, where he played with his close friend Artemi Panarin. During his time with the Rangers, he scored 21 points in 31 regular-season games and had four points in seven playoff games.
Tarasenko then moved on to the Ottawa Senators by signing a one-year, $5M contract. He did well there as a second-line scorer, netting 17 goals and 41 points in 57 games. But when Ottawa’s playoff hopes faded, they traded him to the Florida Panthers for future draft picks . In Florida, he recorded 14 points in 19 games during their strong end-of-season run but struggled in the playoffs with only nine points in 24 games.
New Chapter in Detroit:
Despite not being very productive in the postseason recently, Tarasenko still has top-level scoring skills from his time on St. Louis’ top lines for over ten years. Drafted 16th overall in 2010, he debuted midway through the 2012-13 season after playing four years in Russia’s KHL by age 21. He quickly proved himself by recording 19 points in his first NHL season and continued to improve each year.
Fans might think this move is exciting because it brings new energy to Detroit’s lineup.
In his third year, Tarasenko broke out with an impressive 37 goals and followed that up with seasons of similar high-scoring performances including a career-high of 82 points during the 2021-22 season at age thirty.
Even though he’s not hitting those peak numbers anymore, Tarasenko can still be counted on for around twenty goals and fifty points each season outside of a top-line role. Now he’ll bring that ability to Detroit as he replaces David Perron and possibly teams up again with Patrick Kane who also joined the Wings recently.
What do you think about this new chapter for Tarasenko?
