3 Reasons New Jersey Devils Should Avoid Vladimir Tarasenko
The New Jersey Devils seem like they make a lot of sense for St. Louis Blues superstar Vladimir Tarasenko. In fact, Hall of Fame writer Larry Brooks with the New York Post says that the Devils make the most sense for the Russian sniper. It does make sense on paper. The Devils have a ton of cap space, they have a desperate need for a veteran scorer, and they could use a winger to market around and someone to play next to Jack Hughes.
So, why do we hate the idea of adding Tarasenko to the Devils roster? Everything about it should make just about every Devils fan excited. Somehow, it really doesn’t make sense.
The Devils are short on stars, and they shouldn’t be looking to say no to most players willing to play in the Garden State, but this is one of the few moments where something just feels wrong about it.
Personally, I love Vladimir Tarasenko. He’s incredibly fun, he brings people to the television, and when he’s at his best, there is no scorer like him in the NHL. We can’t be too picky when it comes to superstar wingers, but this one is one to say no thank you.
There are many factors why other deals make a lot more sense for the Devils to spend their $35 million in cap space. Let’s go over why Tarasenko makes a lot of sense for some teams but makes no sense for the New Jersey Devils as currently constructed.
Injury History
The number one reason that Tarasenko is not the right fit for the New Jersey Devils despite his desire to leave St. Louis is his injury history. Tarasenko has only played 34 games total in the past two seasons. He’s had a run of shoulder surgeries that never healed completely, and he hasn’t looked the same since returning to the ice late this year. He did have a two-goal game in the last one of the season as the Colorado Avalanche easily dispatched them, but there were only flashes of that greatness.
Shoulder injuries are like knee injuries. While they can be fixed, and there are some players that once they heal it’s never a problem again, there are some bodies that just don’t go back to 100 percent. Then, it’s only a matter of time before that player is back on the shelf for either maintenance or worse.
Tarasenko might be cooked. It’s very, very likely he’s not. However, there’s a non-zero chance that he is a much less player than he once was.
Will his injuries allow him to ever reach the heights of his peak? This is a player who was a consistent 35-40 goal scorer. Maybe he can be a 30-goal scorer at this point. To do it, he needs to stay on the ice. Can he do it for a full two more seasons? That’s still very much up in the air.
His Contract
The big issue with Tarasenko isn’t that his contract is $7.5 million on the salary cap. There are a few other issues at play here. For one, his contract costs $9.5 million in actual dollars. That’s actually fine as well. The Devils have plenty of cash after coming well below the salary cap last season even without the ticket revenue.
The real problem here is the Devils can lose Tarasenko for absolutely nothing in two seasons. That means if Tarasenko is actually back to his old self, and the Devils want to be the second half of his career, they need to prove that they are a winning franchise in the next two seasons. We remember what happened when the Devils tried this trick with Taylor Hall. They made multiple moves to try to appease Hall, but none of them worked and they had to trade Hall to the highest bidder.
Devils fans are over this era where the only thing to look forward to is the trade deadline. It was great when we were wondering how Pat Maroon and Michael Grabner fit with a playoff roster instead of which team is willing to give us a first-round pick for Kyle Palmieri and what the Devils have to add to the deal to make it happen. Tarasenko will be another folly of this if the Devils cannot figure their situation out before then. Even if they have a bad first season with Tarasenko, he could want out just as quickly.
The Cost
This is the real issue here. Tarasenko would be a fine addition to the team. Honestly, we’d love to have a player of his caliber even if it was just a tryout. The issue here is what the St. Louis Blues want back in return for Tarasenko.
With the injury history and the contract, most teams will be looking to get Tarasenko on the cheap. Especially with his no-move clause, the winger holds a lot of power on where he goes next. Honestly, it’s very unlikely he’s going to waive it to go to a team like the Devils unless he values playing with young centers like Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier.
Still, Tarasenko isn’t going to go cheap. All the talk is for the Blues to trade Tarasenko for another disgruntled star. There have been articles talking about Matthew Tkachuk (although the Blues would have to add something), Evgeny Kuznetsov, Adam Boqvist, Evgeni Dadonov (along with Logan Brown and trading up in the first round), and Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
Those are all players that can keep the Blues in their contention window. The Devils don’t have a player they are willing to part with that would keep the Blues within their contention window. So, they’d probably have to overpay in picks or prospects to overcome the other offers of real NHL players.
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If the price isn’t very high, then sure, the Devils can take a chance on him. However, that just seems unlikely with all of the rumors flying around. It seems like the Blues are going to get decent value for an injury-riddled superstar.