Tarasenko is the best scorer for Russian NT so far

kyle747

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May 10, 2005
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He looks like a guy who wants to compete vs best players in the world. And big money will come if he's that good.

What exactly does "a guy who wants to compete vs best players in the world" look like? Is there a specific eye color or something?

One thing we know about some players from Russia. While the KHL still exists, they have what they consider another option.

And some clubs, such as Ottawa, want to avoid further hassles with players like Filatov and Radulov.
So they don't draft Russians unless they see them becoming significant NHL players.
 

Ranger482

Registered User
Jun 30, 2010
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St. Louis, MO
I'm pretty sure OTT even said it wouldn't have been Tarasenko. Who knows who they would've taken had STL not wanted to do that deal.


Not sure where I heard it, but I remember someone saying Ottawa was probably after Schwartz and St. Louis either caught wind of it or got lucky. In turn, that opened the door to trade Rundblad to Ottawa for the 16th pick, thus getting a steal at 16th with Tarasenko.

The trade was good for both teams. Ottawa needed a defenseman prospect and St. Louis needed a forward prospect. Each team ended up with damn good ones too! :yo:
 

GREENs Guardian

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Dec 14, 2010
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Not sure where I heard it, but I remember someone saying Ottawa was probably after Schwartz and St. Louis either caught wind of it or got lucky. In turn, that opened the door to trade Rundblad to Ottawa for the 16th pick, thus getting a steal at 16th with Tarasenko.

The trade was good for both teams. Ottawa needed a defenseman prospect and St. Louis needed a forward prospect. Each team ended up with damn good ones too! :yo:

How in the world did ottawa need another defensman?

They have Karlsson and Cowen who are gonna be a great top 2 for them in the future, weircioch still has a ways to go, gonchar and phillips locked up for a few more. Rundblad isn't very strong in his own zone and they already have a great PP specialist for the future in Karlsson. What they needed was to add another elite offensive talent to compliment Spezza....and lets be honest, Taresenko would be a perfect fit for spezza, at least i think so. Taresenko brings a great blend of skill, grit and toughness to the table that i will never understand how brian murray and some of the other GM's passed on him at the draft. It was clear that VT wanted to play in the NHL and honestly i cannot wait to see hm in action.
 

Hale The Villain

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How in the world did ottawa need another defensman?

They have Karlsson and Cowen who are gonna be a great top 2 for them in the future, weircioch still has a ways to go, gonchar and phillips locked up for a few more. Rundblad isn't very strong in his own zone and they already have a great PP specialist for the future in Karlsson. What they needed was to add another elite offensive talent to compliment Spezza....and lets be honest, Taresenko would be a perfect fit for spezza, at least i think so. Taresenko brings a great blend of skill, grit and toughness to the table that i will never understand how brian murray and some of the other GM's passed on him at the draft. It was clear that VT wanted to play in the NHL and honestly i cannot wait to see hm in action.

We likely passed him on because of his nationality. We have a terrible track record drafting Russians, but holding a grudge shouldn't stop us from selecting the BPA. Still I don't think you'll find an Ottawa fan disappointed with the trade.
 

Ranger482

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Jun 30, 2010
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St. Louis, MO
How in the world did ottawa need another defensman?

They have Karlsson and Cowen who are gonna be a great top 2 for them in the future, weircioch still has a ways to go, gonchar and phillips locked up for a few more. Rundblad isn't very strong in his own zone and they already have a great PP specialist for the future in Karlsson. What they needed was to add another elite offensive talent to compliment Spezza....and lets be honest, Taresenko would be a perfect fit for spezza, at least i think so. Taresenko brings a great blend of skill, grit and toughness to the table that i will never understand how brian murray and some of the other GM's passed on him at the draft. It was clear that VT wanted to play in the NHL and honestly i cannot wait to see hm in action.

OK, maybe not "needed" but "wanted". Either way, someone in Ottawa wanted him. :p:
 

Fulcrum

Guest
trying to remember the last Russian that played for STL... ?

I think that he will certainly try his luck in NHL, however it will be very much like the Kulemin deal. "Its NHL or I go home". Righfully so, he has no business in the grind that is AHL.

BTW, whatever these guys said before the draft was meant to get their stock higher (as you know) In reality, from their recent interviews I get the feeling that they aren't SO eager to make the jump. For example Kuznetsov saying that if the Russian stars stayed home he wouldn't even bother with NHL... go figure
 

Jzk

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Mar 12, 2009
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trying to remember the last Russian that played for STL... ?

I think that he will certainly try his luck in NHL, however it will be very much like the Kulemin deal. "Its NHL or I go home". Righfully so, he has no business in the grind that is AHL.

BTW, whatever these guys said before the draft was meant to get their stock higher (as you know) In reality, from their recent interviews I get the feeling that they aren't SO eager to make the jump. For example Kuznetsov saying that if the Russian stars stayed home he wouldn't even bother with NHL... go figure

Nikita Nikitin played 41 games for St. Louis this year.
 

Garl

Registered User
Oct 7, 2006
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I think you're generalizing a bit when you say Rundblad had a better season. I'm guessing you're referring to point production to come to that conclusion and even that is flawed. So much of it is situational.

Let's start with icetime. Tarasenko played the 9th or 10th most minutes amongst forwards on his team on top of seeing minimal PP time. How many minutes did Rundblad play? I'm guessing it was quite a few more minutes as a dman and a boatload more on the PP. One 1st hand report this season from a fan of the opposing team said Tarasenko drew 6 of 7 penalties in one game and recieved ZERO PP time in that game. This was one of the only 1st hand reports on him all season and the compliments extended far past what the scoresheet showed.

From what I understand, the KHL is a better league than the SEL. This may or may not be true, but it seems to be the general consensus.

I'm not saying Tarasenko had the better season, but unless you're familiar with BOTH players situations this past season....you probably shouldn't tout one or the other.

It's not so easy really. You think Sibir coach(Vlad's dad) is dumb and doesn't use his best player or smth.? Tarasenko had good games, had bad games, but overall he had pretty much the same impact as last year.
Rundblad had a MONSTER season in SEL. So obviously he had a better season, there's no need to bring up all the defensive arguments about Tarasenko, it just doesn't work. With the same sucess you can try to prove that for example TJ Oshie had a better season than for example Lubomir Visnovsky.

SEL vs KHL is a tough question. While obviously KHL has more star power, SEL is a very tight league. If for example this leagues merged, SEL teams would have probably been in the middle of standings. And AIK Skelleftea is probably a stronger team than Sibir Novosibirsk.

And I don't have anything against Vlad, seems to be a good player in the making. So, good for St.Louis, espescially since they already have this big offensive defenseman in Pieterangelo.
 

MrGeno101

Registered User
Sep 11, 2008
1,205
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Is this thread about Rundblad or Tarasenko??


by the way..
KHL is a much better league then SEL
Sibir Novosibirsk is better then Skellefteå AIK
Tarasenko is a better player then Rundblad
Tarasenko is younger then Rundblad
Tarasenko is more NHL ready then Rundblad
:p::p::p:
im pretty good at this...
 

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