TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun joins Gino Reda to discuss free agent forward Vladimir Tarasenko’s search for a new team, the possible timeline for Brad Marchand’s return and the transparency between management and players in Nashville.
Gino Reda: True, he’s 34, but he can still score. All he needs now is a job. If you’re looking for a veteran goal-scoring winger, Insider Pierre Lebrun’s got an idea for it. Pierre, Vlad Tarasenko scored 23 with the Wild last season, but he’s still looking for a place to play this year. What’s the latest on the job hunt?
Pierre LeBrun: Yeah, by far his 23 goals are tops among the UFA forwards that are still left, and there is still quite a list. We talked about Patrik Laine the other day, but Tarasenko has the most goals of all those guys.
It’s interesting what has happened here with Vladimir Tarasenko. Number one, as you know, Gino, Vladimir Tarasenko has gone through a lot of agents over the last several years. And here’s an update there. Vladimir Tarasenko and Dan Milstein, the agent, parted ways late in the summer. That news really hadn’t surfaced until now, but as far as I can tell, Tarasenko actually doesn’t have an agent right now. Although I think he’s looking for one. So that’s number one.
When he still had representation, my understanding is that he did get an offer from the Florida Panthers in early July, Gino, but that offer wasn’t for a lot of money. I don’t think it was much more than $850,000 because the Panthers had no cap space. They couldn’t make it up. That’s all they had. So at the time, Tarasenko said no thanks and obviously wanted to find more money elsewhere, but that hasn’t materialized. azx
And listen, he’s obviously still a very good player, but there’s not a lot of money left on the market for him. So I think if he wants to play this year, he’s probably going to have to lower his demands.
In terms of Florida, I know people are still speculating because that’s where he’s skating, by the way. He’s skating in South Florida to try and stay in shape. I don’t know that it’s likely that the Panthers circle back. I think people are wondering whether they might because of the injury to Brad Marchand. But the reality is Marchand is coming back this year. So I’ll never say never because who, I mean, what if the Panthers keep getting injuries? But for now, I don’t see a fit. I don’t think Florida will circle back to Tarasenko.
Reda: Okay, you just mentioned Brad Marchand is coming back this year. That’s pretty vague. We’re not sure yet on what the timeline is. What are you hearing about a timeline for his return?
LeBrun: We don’t know 100% because the reality is Brad Marchand was going for an MRI with Panthers doctors on this day, on Thursday. So until they get all that imaging done, no one knows for sure.
However, the early word that I’m hearing is that we’re talking weeks and not months for Brad Marchand, which in itself is tremendous news. Whether that’s four weeks or longer than that, six weeks, who knows? But until the MRI is done, we won’t know for sure.
But my sense is that we’re not talking about season-ending, which is in itself tremendous news, given the images of seeing him go down the other night in LA.
So what it might mean for Florida is that now twice they’ve gotten perhaps the best possible news if you think about it. Sasha Barkov, that looked terrible. Turns out it’s 6 to 8 weeks and no surgery. And now, depending on the MRI, it looks like they may have dodged a bullet to some degree with Brad Marchand. So that’s good news for Florida.
Reda: Interesting scenario going on in Nashville right now after missing the playoffs the last three seasons. They’ve got a plan moving forward, and they want to make sure everyone in the organization is really clear on what that plan is, Pierre.
LeBrun: Yeah, so I find this fascinating, Gino, you know, in talking to some of the Predators’ veteran players this week - Roman Josi, the captain, Steven Stamkos, Filip Forsberg, Jonathan Marchessault. - they all had the same thing to say, which is how refreshing it was to get total honesty from Chris MacFarland as far as his plan. And that there’s a real trust developing between the new GM and the veteran core about where things may go.
And while they didn’t want to say more than that, Gino, here’s what I will infer. I think Chris MacFarland was pretty direct with these guys with respect to the fact that if they get off to a slow start this year, which they have the last few years, and they’re not in playoff contention, that there could be a lot of change here. And listen, Chris MacFarland’s already made nine trades since he took over as GM of the Predators in early June, so it’s not like he’s been sitting on his hands.
But the biggest takeaway here is this: Chris MacFarland doesn’t want a team in Nashville that just tries to make the playoffs every year. He wants to build a team that is among those six, seven, eight elite teams that has taken a swing at the Cup year after year, i.e. like the team he left behind in Colorado.
So, you know, I think it’s really paramount to understand how important these conversations have been before the year between the GM and his veteran core because he’s establishing a trust with a bunch of guys who have no move and no trade clauses, right?
Roman Josi has one more year on his deal after this year, but he has a full no-move clause. So if and when that time comes where they talk about a potential trade, that trust will be important. Steven Stamkos, another year on his deal after this year, scored 42 goals last year.
MacFarland, I think, is setting a real important foundation here that if and when those conversations have to come, that at least He’s gotten off to a good start with those players in terms of their trust. But as Filip Forsberg said to me, Gino, he loves the fact that Chris MacFarland has put it on the players. If they play well coming out of the gates, maybe they keep the band together this year, Gino. It’s up to the Predators.
Reda: Still to be determined. That’s it for early Insider Training. The full version with Pierre, Chris Johnston, and Darren Dreger is coming up on the early edition of SportsCentre.