St. Louis Blues: Vladimir Tarasenko Return Is Huge Wild Card

The St. Louis Blues know they’ll have their full roster available when the NHL resumes in 2020. What they don’t know is how their star scorer will impact things.

When the NHL came to a screeching halt in March of 2020, the St. Louis Blues were still one of the best teams in the league. Even though the Colorado Avalanche had crept up in the standings, due to an early-February slump for the Blues, St. Louis had won 10 of 12 games prior to the pandemic.

What was just as impressive for St. Louis was their consistency and winning ways without their best scorer. Vladimir Tarasenko had not played since October 24, 2019, when he injured his shoulder against the Los Angeles Kings.

Despite not having their best scorer, talent wise, for 90% of the season that was played, the Blues were second in scoring in the Central Division, only behind Colorado. They were tied for fourth in the Western Conference.

St. Louis was tied with the Edmonton Oilers. Most people would find that surprising since Edmonton is loaded with offensive talent, at least at the top.

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Now, if/when the league resumes, the Blues have an interesting wild card to play. Due to the time difference, the Blues know they are going to have Tarasenko on the ice when this playoff format begins.

The interesting thing about it is there is a case to be made for that scenario being a double-edged sword. Of course, the sharper side is on the positive end, but changes to chemistry can have odd affects.

The biggest question regarding Tarasenko’s return is where does he slot in? Conventional wisdom might suggest a return to the line with Tarasenko, Brayden Schenn and Jaden Schwartz.

I still push for a line of Tarasenko, Ryan O’Reilly and David Perron. Even though it is technically their off wing, Perron often likes being on the left and Tarasenko the right. O’Reilly always gets the best out of everyone too.

It should be said, however, that Sammy Blais was playing very well with that duo already. Shifting him away might affect his play.

There is no doubt that Alex Steen actually fit in well with Schwartz and Schenn too. At this stage in his career, I still like him being an energy player on a third or fourth line as he was in the 2019 playoffs, but there was chemistry there.

Tarasenko’s return likely takes Jordan Kyrou out of the lineup too. Maybe Mackenzie MacEachern or Zach Sanford get the ax if they go cold, but Craig Berube likes toughness, tenacity and physicality, which would likley leave Kyrou in the cold.

Nevertheless, it is hard to see the return of Tarasenko as anything but positive. Just think about how good the Blues were without him and then you add that level of scoring ability back to the team with fresh legs? That’s scary for other teams.

As mentioned previously, Tarasenko is almost always a fast starter to the season. He’s had so much time off now that you should expect him to have that kind of production out of the gate in a playoff scenario.

Some fans wanted to focus on Tarasenko not scoring as much during the Stanley Cup Final. The guy still led the Blues in goals for the 2019 playoffs and that was when he was tired. Just imagine him fresh.

Time will tell when Tarasenko gets to hit the ice and prove which scenario comes true. Rumors point to a late-July start to the playoffs, but a spike in positive covid tests could threaten that.

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Keep your fingers crossed that we see Tarasenko and the Blues back on the ice to defend their title. It will be interesting to see how this wild card impacts a team that was already near the top.

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