The St. Louis Blues have taken care of their big re-signing for the summer and won’t have to work on it again any time soon. They’ve re-signed Vladimir Tarasenko to a eight-year, $60 million deal.
happy to be with you and carry a note on my chest . Let's bring the cup to St.Louis!
— Vladimir Tarasenko (@tara9191) July 7, 2015
Tarasenko’s deal is the maximum length under the new CBA and will make him the highest paid player on the team.
His cap hit will be $7.5 million, which, in eight years, is likely to seem like a very reasonable contract — it seems pretty reasonable now — with guys like Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane jumping up to an AAV of $10.5 million next year and Steven Stamkos likely to get up in that neighborhood on a contract extension this season or in a UFA deal next summer.
His numbers in the final year of his entry-level deal were remarkable. His 25 even strength goals were the most in the Western Conference and third league-wide, behind Stamkos and Rick Nash. At large, he was a beast at even strength, posting a 1.39 G/60 (fifth in the NHL), a 2.78 P/60 (also fifth) and a 65.62% goals for percentage, which was 14th in the league among players who played at least 200 minutes.
Overall, the 23-year-old winger finished fifth in the league in goals with 37 and 10th in points with 72. He also was a force for St. Louis in the playoffs, scoring six goals and an assist in six games. Despite it just being a single round, that was good for an all situations P/60 of 4.23, the best of any player in the playoffs.
Tarasenko has been good in previous years, but his 2014-15 season was an incredible breakout and the Blues’ future is much brighter with him on contract into 2023.
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