Star winger Vladimir Tarasenko has requested a trade from the St. Louis Blues, a source confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday.
Tarasenko, 29, is in the seventh year of an eight-year, $60 million deal he signed in July 2015. He has a full no-trade clause to go along with 218 goals and 224 assists in 531 regular-season games, all of them with St. Louis.
The Blues, who won the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history in 2019, have been seeking a trade for Tarasenko after he made the request.
A source told ESPN that Tarasenko was displeased with the way his multiple shoulder surgeries were handled by the team, and that trust between player and team was fractured because of it.
Tarasenko has undergone three surgeries since April 2018, when he first had a reconstructive operation on his shoulder. In October 2019, he underwent another surgery and missed 61 regular-season games. He returned to the Blues in July 2020 for the Stanley Cup playoffs, but left the Edmonton. Canada, bubble after just four games to have more evaluation of his shoulder. He had a third surgery in August 2020, limiting him to 24 games in the 2020-21 season. He had four goals and 10 assists in those games, skating to a minus-7.
Tarasenko has a $7.5 million cap hit, but his base salary jumps from $5.5 million this season to $9.5 million in 2021-22. But it’s his health that could be the biggest obstacle to a trade, as Tarasenko has played only 34 regular-season games in the past two seasons, scoring seven goals.
Following St. Louis’ playoff elimination at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche this season, Tarasenko joined the Russian national team at the World Championships.
The veteran’s request was first reported by The Athletic.