It is no secret that Vladimir Tarasenko has wanted out of St. Louis for awhile now. The All-Star winger has been on the trade block the past few seasons but the St. Louis Blues have not received an offer they are willing to accept. Vladamir Tarasenko also has a full no-trade-clause so it limits trade partners for the Blues. But now two teams that missed out on the Johnny Gaudreau sweepstakes have emerged as possible landing spots for Tarasenko.
Every team is always looking to acquire a 6-time 30-goal scorer. According to sources, the Philidelphia Flyers and New York Islanders have been calling the Blues to find out what they needed to offer to acquire Tarasenko.
The Philidelphia Flyers would be hard pressed to offer anything substantial in order to get Tarasenko. Both the Flyers and Blues are right up against the cap, so high-salaried players would have to go both ways. Tarasenko has one year remaining on his deal, with a cap hit of $7.5 million. The Flyers would probably have to send a player like James Van Riemsdyk the other way to clear cap space. Plus the Flyers have just hired John Tortorella as their new head coach and I don't think he's an attractive coach for a player like Tarasenko.
However, the New York Islanders make sense for the Blues and possibly Tarasenko as well. The Islanders have just moved into a brand new state of the art arena in Belmont Park, UBS Arena. They have a new head coach in Lance Lambert and are looking for a fresh start. The Islanders also currently have about $11 million in cap space, making it easy to take on a large contract. We'll see if the Islanders are able to put something together to impress the Blues and Tarasenko.
