VLADIMIR TARASENKO, RED WINGS AGREE TO 2-YEAR, $9.5 MILLION DEAL: WHY THIS MAKES SENSE FOR DETROIT
By Lukas Weese, Max Bultman and Chris Johnston
The Detroit Red Wings and forward Vladimir Tarasenko agreed to a two-year, $9.5 million deal, the team announced Wednesday. The contract carries an average annual value of $4.75 million.
Tarasenko, 32, played for the Ottawa Senators and Florida Panthers in 2023-24 after the Panthers acquired Tarasenko at the trade deadline.
HEADED TO THE TARASENK-SHOW!
The #RedWings today signed forward Vladimir Tarasenko to a two-year contract with an AAV of $4.75M. pic.twitter.com/ZLR93snIdW
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 3, 2024
In 76 regular-season games played in 2023-24, Tarasenko recorded 23 goals and 32 assists. He was a member of the Florida team that won their its Stanley Cup in franchise history. In 24 playoff games, Tarasenko tallied five goals and four assists.
He doesn’t generate scoring chances at the rate he once did but still possesses the kind of shot needed to put the puck in the net. Built like a tank, Tarasenko can win puck battles along the wall and fight through the kind of traffic we’re accustomed to seeing in playoff hockey.
Tarasenko finished this season with even better offensive numbers than he managed last season and lifted the Stanley Cup for a second time in June.
The Tarasenko signing follows the Red Wings bringing back forward Patrick Kane on a one-year, $4 million deal, with up to $2.5 million in bonuses and a full no-trade clause, per league sources. After joining Detroit midway through last season, following hip surgery, Kane scored 20 goals and had 47 points in 50 games for the Red Wings, who came within a tiebreaker of the playoffs. Kane and Tarasenko are reunited after playing together on the New York Rangers.
Detroit also traded forward Robby Fabri and a conditional 2025 fourth-round pick to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for goaltender Gage Alexander, the teams announced Wednesday. The Red Wings finished fifth in the Atlantic Division last season with a 41-32-9 record.
After losing David Perron to Ottawa, trading Fabbri to Anaheim, and with Daniel Sprong also a free agent, Detroit had a lot of scoring to replace in its forward group. Tarasenko definitely helps with that, coming off a season in which he had 55 points between the Senators and Panthers.
That’s not enough to replace all the offense the Red Wings have lost this offseason, but it definitely makes a dent, and it’s easy to envision Tarasenko finishing off feeds from Kane in Detroit’s top six. — Max Bultman, Red Wings beat writer
(Photo: Dave Sandford / NHLI via Getty Images)
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Detroit Red Wings,NHL
2024-07-03T21:48:28Z dg43tfdfdgfd