The St. Louis Blues superstars have been slightly undervalued by outsiders over the years. Despite this, Vladimir Tarasenko is probably ranked around where he should be.
The St. Louis Blues and their fans have a love/hate relationship with the national media and those within the league. Their stars have often been overlooked in rankings and when it comes time to vote for end of year awards.
Some of it has to do with the market size. Other times it simply has to do with a lack of exposure since St. Louis is thought of as a middle-of-the-road team.
So, it should come as no surprise that Vladimir Tarasenko was ranked right in the middle portion of the NHL’s top 50 players. It is not a slight on him, but it is a slight indication that he is undervalued and also does not live up to his potential. Both are true.
The NHL Network has been releasing the top 50 players in the NHL right now. Alex Pietrangelo got put into that category, getting the 41 spot. Now, Tarasenko joins him but only nine spots higher.
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The funny thing with these lists is they all become about perspective. You can argue that Tarasenko should be well over nine spots higher than Pietrangelo – or at least I would.
You also might be able to argue that Tarasenko should be rated over some of the players ahead of him. We won’t know that until the full list is revealed.
On the other hand, 32 might be somewhat fair, overall. Tarasenko is an immensely talented individual. He has actually averaged more goals over the last five seasons than anyone not named Alex Ovechkin.
His downfall has been his inability to hit his potential with consistency. Tarasenko hit 40 goals in 2015-16, but that was his peak.
He has been a consistent 30-plus goal scorer, but you can tell there is more in there. He should be hitting 40 with regularity. Instead, he has gone slightly downhill with years of 37 and 33 following the 40. Tarasenko also had a dip in points, dropping to 66 in 2018-19.
If he kept his totals near or surpassing 40 goals and in the mid 70’s or even 80’s for points, he would definitely be higher. So, middle of the pack might be right where he needs to be right now.
So, arguments could be made on both sides. There should be a larger gap between someone with Tarasenko’s talents and those ranked below him. However, his own numbers are not as good as they could be, so he is living off of potential.
The way to truly judge it is to ask yourself if you would rather have a certain player over Tarasenko. As Blues fans, we all love him and judge him with that in our heart. However, as the rest of the Top 50 are released, you have to judge their numbers, performance and consistency against his.
We all know that we believe Tarasenko can score 50 goals and he believes it himself. Until he goes out and does it, there will always be those that think he’s a decent scorer on a decent team and nothing more.