There are a few players in the lineup the Detroit Red Wings could use a rescue from. One of those players is Justin Holl, who looked good in his previous stop with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
As for Vladimir Tarasenko? He’s looked more than good in a few different places not named Hockeytown. So maybe another team can step in and provide an assist.
What should the Wings get in return? Honestly, they shouldn’t demand a lot of compensation. Just move the contract and move on from the mistake that was. I say ‘mistake,’ but that doesn’t mean Tarasenko won’t be a relevant player elsewhere.
At this point, I’m calling him a bad fit for Detroit, but for two of the three teams listed, they’ll beg to differ. As for Team No. 3? I decided to go out on a limb.
Florida Panthers
Tarasenko recently won a Cup with the Florida Panthers, so if they lose Brad Marchand, Sam Bennett, or Tomas Nosek in the offseason, Tarasenko would make a good stopgap. He’s familiar with the team, he proved to be a good fit when he finished the 2023-24 season there, and he’d be raring to help turn this team into a dynasty.
As would be the case with the remaining two teams on this list, Tarasenko wouldn’t come in and play in the top six unless injuries strike. But he’d give a deep team - even if they had to go without Marchand, Bennett, and Nosek in 2025-26 - even more depth.
And he may not be the only former Panther general manager Bill Zito will try to bring back if he needs to go the more cost-effective route this summer. So, if the Wings want to trade Tarasenko, don’t be surprised if he’s riding off into the sunset in Sunrise next season.
St. Louis Blues
They’re a recently-retooled team that shocked the NHL world and made the playoffs. While the Blues have a new core and scorers all over the place, they would benefit from bringing back an old face to help guide this younger team and the next generation to a deep playoff run.
As is the case with Florida, Tarasenko won’t be under so much pressure to play like the forward he was as recently as two seasons ago. Instead, he’d clock in on the middle six, maybe even take a third-line role in Arch City, and give the Blues more supplementary scoring and playmaking.
Tarasenko can still put up physical play, so there’s a chance he could slide into more of a defense-first checking role. But this doesn’t mean he couldn’t move into the top six should injuries plague the Blues.
And with the experience Tarasenko has, he’d still be a player you’d want playing 16-plus minutes per game in spot duty.
Nashville Predators
If the Predators want to salvage whatever’s left of their ‘dream team’ that flopped last season, they need to find players who can still potentially give them a boost in the scoring realm. And yes, I get it; Tarasenko was awful as a scorer last season, but it’s also an outlier of what’s otherwise been more than a solid career.
This means teams like the Predators, whose core is more than aging, may be cool taking a chance on a player who, as little as two seasons ago, looked like he was still in his prime. So it wouldn’t surprise me if a team like the Preds or another organization with an older core (like the Pittsburgh Penguins) came knocking.
It doesn’t mean Steve Yzerman would get a lot for Tarasenko regardless of which aging team he could make a deal with. But the goal here is to try and get rid of most, if not all, of his contract.
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