Vladimir Tarasenko has seemingly been nursing a shoulder injury for the past two seasons. However, the St. Louis Blues will need him to recover quickly from his most recent injury.
St. Louis Blues superstar forward Vladimir Tarasenko was dynamite in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs. However, despite his heroics, especially late in the playoffs, the Blues will need a short recovery time from his recent surgery.
Tarasenko sustained an injury in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Boston Bruins but was able to play through the injury and propel the Blues to their first Stanley Cup.
The Russian sniper had been nursing an injury after the final game of the 2017-18 season against the Colorado Avalanche. A game that saw the Blues fail to make the playoffs.
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As an apparent result of the injury, Tarasenko had a slow start to the season in 2018. He had just 11 goals under his belt when Christians came in 2018, and for a perennial 35+ goal scorer, it was a significant disappointment.
Tarasenko, though, seemed to excel in literally every other area of the game despite being held off the scoreboard for so many games during the year.
He even went as far to block a couple of would-be empty netters playing as a goalie in certain situations.
Tarasenko’s 35 assists were one shy of his career-high he set in both 2016-17, and 2014-15. His playmaking abilities were evident throughout the entire season and was one of the team’s best all-around players.
The 27-year-old had enough time to eventually get healthy and turn his season around get back to his 30 goal-scoring ways.
This offseason may be a little different. Not only does Tarasenko have less time to physically recover from another shoulder procedure, but during the regular season, the Blues will get every team’s best next season.
It is no secret that the Blues started to play well when Tarasenko began to turn his season around in January, St. Louis started to play better.
With every other team in the league wanting to beat the defending champions next season, Tarasenko needs to be ready to return to his late-season form as soon as the puck drops on October 2 against Washington.
When Tarasenko plays in at least 70 games in a season, he has never scored fewer than 33 goals, so there is no indication of the superstar sniper slowing down anytime soon, especially at a tender age of 27.
Something interesting looking at Tarasenko’s stats, and something that is surprising after watching him put on a clinic passing the puck, but the forward has four more goals than assists in his career.