Tarasenko Chooses Sibr, KHL over Blues, NHL… For Now
Please check out my full write up on Vladimir Tarasenko’s decision on Hockey Independent.
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By now most blue bleeders have heard the news. Vladimir Tarasenko has decided to stay with Sibir and finish out his two year KHL contract.
Depressed? Distraught? Don’t be.
Don’t get me wrong. Tank has displayed tremendous skill and nearly limitless upside. There is good reason to be excited. I’m as excited to see what he can do for the St. Louis Blues as anyone else. But the chicken little prognostications, “bust” assertions and “lair” claims floating around Blues Nation are laughable at best, irresponsible at worst.
Get a grip. As Doug MacLean says, “SERIOUSLY!”.
There are more variables playing in to Volva’s decision making than purely his “dreams” and “desires”. There are family constraints (Daddy Tank is the Sibir bench boss) and contractual issues (was there REALLY an out clause?). Even with as flaky as KHL contracts seem to be, at least compared to those used in the NHL, there is no guarantee that Tarasenko could get out of the contract. Rumored out clause or not.
As much of a chance is there that for some reason “he doesn’t want to come over” now or he “was just pulling our chain”, there is an equal chance that some unforeseen contract issue mitigated Tarasenko’s ability to skip out a year early.
Until more details regarding his decision or the contract he is under surface, I’m not going to lose any sleep.
It’s not like there is an expectation of regression of his development in the KHL. As Sibir’s GM told Sovsport, “We had no idea the Blues wanted [Tarasenko] to come so bad. But it’d be better for him to play 1 more year in Russia before moving to the NHL.“ Tarasenko will still go up against fully grown men in the second best league in the world. The KHL is no beer league. We’re talking on the level of comparing the Bundesliga to the Premiership/Serie A/La Liga. He isn’t heading off to play in the MLS. This isn’t an Alex Pietrangelo situation. Playing as a man among midgets when he returned to the OHL after the 2010 World Junior Championships.
Come to think of it, that worked out pretty well in the end for Petro, I digress…
Another go around the KHL block certainly can’t be worse than touring North America in a bus with the Peoria Rivermen instead of being in St. Louis. I know the Rivs would love to have him.
Bottom line, the kid is still the Blues top prospect. At age 19 he has plenty of time to come over and enjoy a long NHL career. As Lyman Zerga (Carl Reiner) said in a wonderfully stereotypical Russian voice in Ocean’s 11, “He will be here.”
