Here we go, Tarasenko! 2 years, $9.5 million for the scoring forward

Updated 2x at 6:30 PM: The Red Wings have signed Vladimir Tarasenko to a 2-year, $9.5 million contract while I was writing about prospects:

He’s 32, and at $4.75 million, the 23-goal-scorer isn’t what he was as a 25-year-old, but he’s going to help the top six recover from the loss of David Perron with a lot more speed and sniping.

Update: From The Athletic’s Lukas Weese and Chris Johnston:

The Detroit Red Wings and forward Vladimir Tarasenko agreed to a two-year, $9.5 million deal, the team announced Wednesday. The contract carries an average annual value of $4.75 million.

Tarasenko, 32, played for the Ottawa Senators and Florida Panthers in 2023-24 after the Panthers acquired Tarasenko at the trade deadline.

In 76 regular-season games played in 2023-24, Tarasenko recorded 23 goals and 32 assists. He was a member of the Panthers team that won their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. In 24 playoff games, Tarasenko tallied five goals and four assists.

He doesn’t generate scoring chances at the rate he once did but still possesses the kind of shot needed to put the puck in the net. Built like a tank, Tarasenko can win puck battles along the wall and fight through the kind of traffic we’re accustomed to seeing in playoff hockey.

Update: From Daily Faceoff’s Anthony Trudeau:

Detroit lost 90 combined points by letting wingers David Perron (Ottawa) and Daniel Sprong (unsigned) walk in free agency and will hope Tarasenko, formerly of the rival St. Louis Blues, can help cover the difference.

Tarasenko (6’1, 219 lbs) adds a heaviness to the Red Wings’ talented top-six that it previously lacked; star players Lucas Raymond, Patrick Kane, and Alex DeBrincat all scored at a better pace than the Russian last season but offer little in the way of physicality.

Now with his fifth team in three seasons, Tarasenko also brings a winning pedigree to a Detroit outfit desperate to return to the Stanley Cup Playoff.

Last season, the Wings thought they made the postseason for the first time since 2015 when Perron scored a dramatic goal in game No. 82, but a Capitals win against the Flyers meant it was all for naught.

Though the 293-goal-scorer Tarasenko completes a formidable forward group in the Motor City, fans will wonder whether GM Steve Yzerman has plans to improve their leaky defense, which cost them playoff hockey in 2023-24.

From DobberHockey’s Alexander MacLean:

The Red Wings acquire a natural finisher that should fit in well with their existing crop of top-six forwards. Tarasenko has shown himself to be a 60-point forward the last few years, and this move likely doesn’t change that. What it likely does though is lock out any of the younger players like Michael Rasmussen, Jonatan Berggren, or even Nate Danielson from having a shot in the top-six.

Tarasenko has predominantly been a RW as aa left shot throughout his career, but he played well on the left side in Florida, and with Kane and Lucas Raymond already entrenched on that wing, it’s likely that Tank ends up playing his strong side. This move should help J.T. Compher‘s outlook, as well as bringing a few more points spread across the D-core.

On the flip side, he Panthers lose another winger here, and that bodes well for the remaining guys who might otherwise be middle-six players at best, such as Eetu Luostarinen, Jesper Boqvist and Evan Rodrigues.

The Free Press’s Helene St. James…

The Tarasenko signing bookends the splash made Sunday night when Yzerman re-signed Patrick Kane for one year at $4 million. In between came multiple mid-range signings that provided depth, but hardly imbued confidence the Wings would build on the playoff-chasing performance they delivered this past season. Now they have a big winger who can really shoot the puck – and score.

Tarasenko (6 feet, 225 pounds, shoots left) just won the Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers. He won his first with the St. Louis Blues in 2019.

Tarasenko scored 34 goals in 2021-22 with the Blues. He was traded to the New York Rangers at the 2023 deadline, started last season with the Ottawa Senators, and finished it in Florida.

It’s an important signing for the Wings, and relatively low-risk. Tarasenko had 23 goals last season in 76 games and 18 goals in 69 games the previous season, but both seasons were split among two teams. The Wings have to hope that now that the absence of turbulence will refresh Tarasenko, who has reached the 30-goal mark six times since joining the NHL in 2012-13.

The Wings can now put together a top six with wingers that include Tarasenko, Kane, Lucas Raymond and Alex DeBrincat. Tarasenko also can take over the power play spot vacated by Perron, who signed with Ottawa in free agency.

The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus gives the Wings a “B” for the contract…

Detroit sent Robby Fabbri and his $4-million cap hit to Anaheim in a cap dump to clear the space for Tarasenko, with the rest of the money mostly earmarked for restricted free agents Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider and Joe Veleno. And Tarasenko is an upgrade over Fabbri, so it’s a better allocation of resources.

But this isn’t the same Tarasenko who posted six 30-goal seasons with the St. Louis Blues, a hyper-active wrecking ball and underrated playmaker. At 32, he’s clearly lost a step in terms of speed, he’s largely disinterested on the forecheck, and he’s basically given up on the idea of playing defense. By the time his run with the Blues ended, opponents were scoring nearly five goals per 60 minutes with Tarasenko on the ice.

But the shot is always the last thing to go, and Tarasenko’s still got a really good one — whether it’s a one-timer from the circle or off the rush, where he’s always excelled. His shooting percentage between Ottawa and Florida this season was 14.8 percent, the second-highest of his career, as he scored 23 goals in 76 games, adding five more in the Panthers’ Stanley Cup run. That’s higher than his career average of 12.9 percent, but it’s in the same general ballpark — with that shot, he’s always been a player that out-performs the metrics. At least, offensively. His strong play in the Eastern Conference final and Stanley Cup Final probably earned him the second year of this contract after only managing to get a one-year deal out of Ottawa last summer.

Of note from the Hockey News’s Jonathan Tovell:

Tarasenko is coming off a Stanley Cup championship with the Florida Panthers, which acquired him from the Ottawa Senators at the trade deadline. The 32-year-old from Yaroslavl, Russia, had 23 goals and 55 points in 76 games between the two teams, and he added five goals and nine points in 24 playoff games.

While Tarasenko’s family resides in South Florida, he’ll remain in the Atlantic Division and face the Panthers in Sunrise twice next season on Jan. 16 and April 10.

The Red Wings add a player who’s had six 30-goal campaigns and has put up at least 50 points in each of the last three seasons – he’s done so eight times overall in his career. In total, he’s played 751 career regular-season games and has 293 goals, 336 assists, 629 points and two Stanley Cup championships with the St. Louis Blues and Panthers. He’ll help the team try to improve on the scoring front after ranking ninth among NHL clubs in goals-for. 

Tarasenko will likely replace David Perron in the top-six forward group after the latter joined the Senators in free agency. Perron had 17 goals and 47 points in 2023-24.

Update #2: From the Hockey News’s Connor Eargood:

Tarasenko’s most natural fit is probably opposite Patrick Kane on the second line, uniting two former Central Division rivals and New York Rangers teammates. Combine Kane’s visionary playmaking and Tarasenko’s shot, and Detroit might just have a high-powered second line to provide scoring depth behind its top line.

As much success as those two might have together, Kane and Tarasenko could create a defensive headache. Putting it lightly, neither are known for their defensive acumen. And even with responsible centerman J.T. Compher likely to play between them, a Kane and Tarasenko duo might be counterintuitive to the defensive emphasis that Detroit wants to bring out of its roster. Steve Yzerman and Derek Lalonde spoke at length about this ideology at their season-ending press conferences in April, and it still seems to be the intended direction of the team.

In that case, Tarasenko might be a suitable option to play alongside Michael Rasmussen and Andrew Copp on the third line. Those two spent most of last season with Christian Fischer on the right wing, creating a successful shutdown line that gave opponents fits. While that line scored its share of gritty, hard-work goals near the net, a player like Tarasenko could bring more variance in the ways it can be effective. Tarasenko isn’t a shutdown player, but his shot-blocking and hits were within a couple units of his career highs last season. And even if Rasmussen and Copp might have to cover some of his defensive mistakes, Tarasenko could help the Red Wings create three consistent scoring threats as opposed to a fiery top six followed by a defensive counterpunch third line.

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, and have worked with MLive and Kukla's Korner. Thank you for reading!