St. Louis is where Vladimir Taraseko made his NHL debut in 2013. It’s where his two sons were born. It’s where he earned a Stanley Cup as a key member of the Blues’ run to the 2019 title.
It is, he admits, a special place in his journey from hockey roots in Russia to stardom and a hefty salary in North America.
So when the Minnesota Wild – Tarasenko’s sixth team since 2023 – return to St. Louis on Thursday ahead of their season opener at Enterprise Center, how will Tarasenko spend his limited time back in the community that first welcomed him to the NHL?
“I stay in my room, prep for the game,” he said.
“It’s not strange anymore. I still have a lot of feelings, but like they say, it’s business,” he said of another return to Missouri. “It’s your team, it’s the first game of the season. Luckily, it’s in St. Louis, and it will be a great game.”
Tarasenko and his family have made their full-time North American home in South Florida, which is where Wild coach John Hynes traveled this summer to meet face-to-face with the 33-year-old veteran about how Tarasenko might fit in the Wild locker room and how he might contribute to their push to return to the playoffs.
No whispering
With training camp behind him, Tarasenko likes what he has found behind the closed door of the Wild locker room.
“It’s a nice group. Everybody is friendly. There’s no whispering in the locker room, everybody talks to each other,” he said. “A couple of team events, (we) have a chance to know the guys better. It’s been fun so far.”
He earned a reputation, and his first NHL title, as a sniper, with a “blink and you will miss it” shot. In 2021-22, Tarasenko’s last full season with the Blues, he posted the most recent of his 30-plus goal seasons.
Since then, he scored 18 goals in 2022-23, when he was with the Blues and then the Rangers, 23 goals in a 2023-24 season spent with the Senators and then the Panthers – where he won his second Stanley Cup – and 11 goals last season with the Red Wings.
In July, Detroit essentially gave him away to the Wild in exchange for future considerations, with many feeling that Tarasenko has little of that scoring magic left in the tank.
But in training camp and preseason actions, coaches and fans have seen a complete player that fits well on the second line.
“I really like his willingness to play without the puck,” Hynes said this week. “I think with how we want to play d-zone coverage, rush defense, tracking, forechecking, I think you look at some of those things when you get a new player in there, their effort and attention to detail without the puck and I like what he’s done there.”
But Tarasenko’s ability to put the puck on net with a purpose has not gone away, and Hynes expects those skills to be on display when there is an opponent in the penalty box.
“What I really like about Vladdy on the power play is when he has a chance to shoot it, he’s shooting it,” Hynes said. “That’s what he is. He’s a goal-scoring shot threat, and I think he’s playing to that identity when he’s in those situations.”
Tarasenko, the teacher
In the basement locker room at the Wild’s practice rink, rookie defenseman Zeev Buium – who had a Tarasenko jersey as a kid in Southern California, and admits trying to emulate the Blues star’s moves on the roller hockey rink – finds himself seated next to a boyhood hero.
Tarasenko become his friend and a teacher in short order.
“You see the talent that he has and the leadership that he brings in. It’s little things,” Buium said. “He’s so good, and so good for me because there are so many things I need to improve on and get better at. He’s so good, especially on the power play, showing me, ‘Hey, if you do this, it will make it easier for yourself, and us.’ So I’m just trying to be a sponge and listen to all of it.”
After all those trips to St. Paul – and one notable trip to Minneapolis – as the Wild’s enemy, Tarasenko is settling into a new role with a new team in a new city.
In addition to dozens of regular season meetings with the Wild during his time in St. Louis, Tarasenko faced Minnesota in three playoff series, wining two of them. And he was a member of the Blues team that came to Target Field on a bitterly cold New Year’s Day in 2022, and was named the third star of the Winter Classic after he scored a goal in a 6-4 St. Louis victory.
With the temperature well below zero, which is not unusual for the Twin Cities in January, the Blues showed up in beachwear that night, and won the coldest outdoor game in NHL history.
But memories of that weather did nothing to dampen Tarasenko’s attitude about the opportunity he has with the Wild this season.
“I’m from Siberia. I don’t really care about hot or cold. Miami is nice, but bits of winter, so be it. My kids enjoy snow,” he said, adding that his time in Minnesota so far has been more about the temperature inside the room and less about the weather.
“If you have a good group at the rink, basically, you can live anywhere,” Tarasenko said. “If the group is not that good, then you can be in a warm place but still unhappy.”
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