St. Louis Blues: The Curious Case of Vladimir Tarasenko

The St. Louis Blues thought they had a savior in Vladimir Tarasenko. Then, he went missing at the worst possible time. So, what are we to make of this budding superstar now?

The St. Louis Blues, and their fans, put a lot of faith and thus a lot of pressure on Vladimir Tarasenko. He was the team’s first 40 goal scorer since Brad Boyes in 2008.

When you just focus on the years, his accomplishments are impressive. The Blues hadn’t had a 40 goal scorer in eight seasons. It was seven seasons before that it had last happened.

Needless to say, the Blues haven’t had a single guy score that many that often in recent memory. So, he was quickly annointed as the next big thing.

When you look at the names that did it last though, it doesn’t seem quite as impressive. As members of the Blues, we liked Scott Young and Brad Boyes. However, they weren’t superstars. They were players that had a good season.

Is that all Tarasenko will be? Another in a long line of Blues that show promise, only to flop like the team in the playoffs? Will he be just another name that people constantly think he can live up to their expectations, only to fall short?

It seemed like that would not be the case. He came out and lit up the 2016 playoffs in the first two rounds after finishing off the regular season with four goals in the final three games.

His stats are somewhat ambiguous as to the answers to our questions. He scored four goals against Chicago in the first round. He had 13 points through two rounds against, what many considered, two of the best teams in the league.

If you only look at the cold stats, however, he didn’t have any game winners. He also only scored in the third period – usually one of the most important periods in playoff games – once until Game 6 against the Sharks.

Stats don’t lie, but they don’t always tell the entire story either. Tarasenko scored two goals against Chicago in one game, in Chicago. Those should have held up the way the team came out of the gate. The Blues turned around and lost the game.

Turn that particular coin around though and you could say he did end up scoring two goals against the Sharks. Yet, those goals came when the Sharks finally stopped paying any attention to him and the Blues were losing 4-0 at the time.

So, what is the truth for Tarasenko? Is he going to disappear when the heat gets turned up or was San Jose just a blip?

May 25, 2016; San Jose, CA, USA; St. Louis Blues right wing Vladimir Tarasenko (91) celebrates scoring a goal against the San Jose Sharks in the third period of game six in the Western Conference Final of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs at SAP Center at San Jose. The Sharks won 5-2. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports /

There’s no denying that the way the San Jose series played out was a colossal kick in the nuts for Blues fans. Their golden boy completely disappears for five games, only to score two seemingly meaningless goals when the game was decided. The only way it could have been worse was if he had completed the hat-trick and the Blues had lost 4-3.

However, you can’t completely throw out the previous two rounds. 20 games played with 15 points and 9 goals isn’t anything to scoff at. When he exited the 2016 playoffs, he was fourth in goals scored.

Again, the question arises of what should fans expect from him? Is he Cristiano Ronaldo? Is he incredibly talented, but doesn’t show up when it matters the most? Could he be the next Alexander Ovechkin? Score a bunch of goals in the regular season, but flounder in the postseason?

What will Blues fans see in the future? Will they see the player that scores for fun or the one that many were openly willing to bench in the San Jose series?

It’s impossible to tell, really. There is still reason to think he’s still going to be everything the Blues and their fans want him to be.

In only three playoff seasons (33 total games), he has 19 goals. He’s got eight playoff goals against Chicago alone. That’s a pretty good test of how he can perform against the best teams.

No, he didn’t show up enough in the San Jose series and we don’t know why. There were rumors of injury or illness. He could have been feuding with the coach again for all we know. However, you can’t completely judge a player based on one series.

Marc Vlasic did a fantastic job defending him, that’s for sure. Whether it was Vlasic or someone else, San Jose almost always had one player shadowing him specifically. That’s pretty difficult to get around.