BREAKING: Vladimir Tarasenko Is an Ottawa Senators
On June 25th, 2010, the Ottawa Senators completed a trade with the St Louis Blues that sent the 16th overall pick in the 2010 draft in exchange for highly touted youngster David Rundblad. With that pick, the St Louis Blues opted to select Vladimir Tarasenko. Now, on July 27th, 2023, just over 13 years, 1 month, and two days later, Tarasenko signs a one-year deal with the Senators. Let’s break it down.
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Let’s talk about the deal
It’s been a long summer for the Russian forward, who opted to change his representation team three days into free agency, as he felt he was not getting the offers he felt he had earned. Today, he signs a one-year deal, earning him 5 million dollars, and has also secured himself a Full No-Move clause. It’s safe to say that he wants to be here.
“Vladimir’s a natural goal scorer,” said Ottawa Senators general manager Pierre Dorion. “He’s a dynamic player who can score from anywhere in the offensive zone, as well as an underrated playmaker who’s made a career out of driving offense for he and his linemates. An established performer in the regular season and in the playoffs, we’re thrilled to add a player of his caliber to our lineup.”
Where does he play in the lineup?
Tarasenko has a lot to offer this already solid lineup. His biggest strength is easily his elite shot and goalscoring ability. Naturally, the Ottawa Senators should try him with their best playmaker right off the bat, Tim Stützle. If the Senators do it right, they can have a designated goalscorer on each of their top 3 lines. I think something like this would make sense:
Brady Tkachuk – Tim Stützle – Vladimir Tarasenko
Claude Giroux – Josh Norris – Drake Batherson
Ridly Greig – Shane Pinto – Dominik Kubalik
Parker Kelly – Mark Kastelic – Zack McEwan
Extra Forwards: Boko Imama, Jiri Smejkai
Here, the Ottawa Senators would be pairing a designated goalscorer with a designated playmaker. On the first line, Tarasenko would be the shooter and Stützle would be the playmaker. Brady Tkachuk provides the grit and additional scoring threat on this line. On line two, Josh Norris would be the shooter and Claude Giroux would be the main playmaker, with Batherson being the additional threat, equally as good as a playmaker as he is a sniper. On line three, Shane Pinto would serve as the primary playmaker with Dominik Kubalik serving as the primary goalscorer. Ridly Greig would serve in a similar to Tkachuk, just on the third line.
The only issue with this top 9, is the fact that Pinto remains unsigned, and the Ottawa Senators only have 32 thousand dollars left under the Salary Cap. This would mean that a move is needed, hence why I left Mathieu Joseph off this lineup as I believe he will be traded away within the next week or two. Once Joseph is traded, I believe Pinto signs shortly after.
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Closing Thoughts
It truly appears as if Pierre Dorion is having himself a Hot Pierre Summer 2.0 and I’m all here for it. I’m excited to see what happens next.