The Detroit Red Wings have signed winger Vladimir Tarasenko to a two-year, $9.5MM contract. The deal carries a cap hit of $4.75MM.
Tarasenko continues his tour around the NHL with this deal, after interrupting an 11-career in St. Louis with a trade to the New York Rangers last season, where he got to play with close friend Artemi Panarin. Tarasenko scored 21 points in 31 regular season games with the Rangers, after posting 29 in his final 38 games with the Blues. He added four points in seven postseason games, before entering unrestricted free agency for the first time in his career.
Tarasenko took his talents to the Ottawa Senators with the freedom – signing a one-year, $5MM contract. He was a stout second-line scorer with the Senators, netting 17 goals and 41 points in 57 games. But with hopes of the playoffs dwindling, Ottawa traded Tarasenko to the Florida Panthers at the Trade Deadline, receiving a third-round pick in 2025 and 2026 in return.
The move to Florida gave Tarasenko yet another chance to chase the Stanley Cup, after lifting it with the Blues in 2019. He seemed determined to cease the opportunity, recording 14 points in 19 games during Florida’s smash end to the season. But Tarasenko struggled to maintain that scoring in the postseason, netting just nine points in 24 postseason games – though three of those points came in the seven-game Stanley Cup Finals against the Edmonton Oilers.
Despite a relatively unproductive postseason, Tarasenko has maintained his top-end scoring – after serving in a proud role on St. Louis’ top lines for over a decade. Originally the 16th-overall selection in the 2010 NHL Draft, Tarasenko made his NHL debut midway through the 2012-13 season, having already spent four years in Russia’s KHL despite being just 21. And much like his career in Russia, Tarasenko proved quickly productive in the NHL, recording 19 points in his first 38 NHL games and ranking 12th in Calder Trophy voting. He followed the performance with 21 goals and 43 points as a sophomore, before truly breaking out in year-three, with a dazzling 37 goals and 73 points in 77 games. Not to be outdone, Tarasenko followed it with 40 goals and 74 points the following year, then 39 goals and 75 points the year after that.
Those seasons still hold Tarasenko’s career-high in goals, though he managed a career-high in points in the 2021-22 season, his age-30 season, netting 82 across 75 games.
And while he’s slipped from his days of routine 30-goal, 70-point seasons – Tarasenko can still be relied upon for 20 goals and 50 points outside of a top line role. He’ll now bring that scoring upside to Detroit, where he’ll – ironically – serve as the replacement for former long-time teammate David Perron, who in turn filled Tarasenko’s role with the Ottawa Senators.
Tarasenko’s new role could also pair him across from former Rangers teammate Patrick Kane, who signed a one-year deal with the Wings ahead of free agency. The duo of veteran scorers will join Alex DeBrincat and presumably Lucas Raymond – though he remains unsigned – as Detroit’s top-six wingers this season.
