Change agents and reject all offers. What does Russian NHL star Tarasenko want?
Jul 6, 2023 10:15 AM UTC Audio Version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
It seems that Vladimir values himself more than the market. Will the new representatives of the striker change the situation?
A dozen Russian hockey players remain on the NHL market without contracts in OCA and NSA status, but the fate of Vladimir Tarasenko seems to be the most interesting. The 31-year-old forward is at a crossroads, in a good way he needs to choose a club that offers him a long-term and financially attractive contract, which will obviously be the last of his career. Tarasenko, in his own person, can offer a thoroughbred sniper with excellent accumulated experience (even winning) in the NHL, who seems to have put all health problems behind him.
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Vladimir himself would not mind staying with the Rangers, where he finished last season and in the playoffs, unlike many other leaders of the Blueshirts, he looked decent. But the New York club doesn’t have much money under its roof, while Rangers prospects Lafrenière and Miller are out of contract, and Kaapo Kakko’s deal will expire in a year. It is clear that the youth of the “blueshirts” does not justify the advances too much, but even so, Lafrenier and Kakko are more the future of the club than Tarasenko, whose best years, quite possibly, are in the past.
At the same time, Tarasenko also does not want to show loyalty to the Rangers and make significant money concessions for obvious reasons: while the striker is still of normal age, has a good record and is in demand, it is stupid to focus on one option. So Vladimir entered the market, but the first days of his work, obviously, disappointed the Russian.
Vladimir Tarasenko
Photo: Frank Franklin II/AP Photo/TASS
According to American journalists, Tarasenko had about six specific proposals with different deadlines and from teams of different current status. Among other things, Vladimir was contacted by the most “Russian” club of the modern NHL “Carolina”, which, it seems, lacks such a scoring winger as Tarasenko for the long-awaited breakthrough in the playoffs. Additionally, Dmitry Orlov recently appeared in the Hurricanes’ camp, adding depth and quality to the Hurricanes’ already elegant defense.
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There was talk of substantive interest in Tarasenko from Ottawa and Pittsburgh, there were rumors about Colorado, but New York Post journalist Larry Brooks reported yesterday that Vladimir turned down all offers. Also, he changed agents.
“Tarasenko had a variety of offers, from Stanley Cup contenders to teams in “perestroika” worth $5.5 million to $6 million of various durations. He turned everything down, including the Carolinas, and then fired the agent. this is weird. I wanted to stay at Rangers but there just isn’t a place there,” Brooks wrote.
It seems that the Russians are not satisfied with the proposed salary. Under the previous contract, Tarasenko earned an average of $7.5 million per season, and now Vladimir apparently believes that it is not yet time for him to lower the financial bar. The change of agent indicates that the striker links the lack of more attractive offers on the market with the weak work of his former agent Paul Theofanos, an experienced agent and, by the way, a practically open CIA officer.
It is interesting that Tarasenko began to work with Theofanos not so long ago, about two years ago. Before that, for a long time, Vladimir’s interests in the NHL were represented by the head of the Octagon company, Mike Lewitt, who signed an eight-year contract with St. Louis for $ 60 million in 2015 for Tarasenko.
Cooperation with Theofanos turned out to be short-lived for Vladimir, and now JP Barry and Pat Brisson from the CAA agency have become his new representatives. They have other Russian clients in the NHL: Klim Kostin and Evgeni Malkin. The former was recently traded from Edmonton and signed a nice deal with Detroit, the latter last offseason at age 35 signed a four-year deal with Pittsburgh for a $6.1 million salary cap. Not the most obvious situations, the conditions ideal for their Russian clients and attracted Tarasenko. Now Vladimir has a chance to get what he wants.
Vladimir Tarasenko
Photo: Chris Seward/AP Photo/TASS
So what do you really want? Will the status of the club be taken into account or will he go to Ottawa conditionally, if only there were optimal financial conditions? Will he accept a short-term contract or will he want to provide himself with stability for the rest of his career? Soon we will be able to get answers to all these questions.
