Report: Senators are trading Vladimir Tarasenko

According to a report from Ottawa Senators insider Bruce Garrioch, the team is expected to trade veteran forward Vladimir Tarasenko.

With the Senators sinking to the bottom of the NHL's standings and with a Stanley Cup Playoff spot looking like a pipe dream, Garrioch reports that new GM Steve Staios will be approaching veteran players in the coming days/weeks to facilitate trades for future assets. As for Tarasenko, Garrioch reports that the Russian sniper is expected to waive his no-trade clause for a move to a contender ahead of the NHL's March 8th trade deadline.

From Garrioch's latest column for The Ottawa Sun:

- Bruce Garrioch

The 32 year old Tarasenko has a respectable 10 goals and 28 points in 37 games with the Senators this season after signing a one year deal with the team in free agency.

You may recall that Tarasenko sat on the free agent market for quite awhile before joining the Sens. He inked a one year, $5 million deal on July 27th, nearly a full month after the free agent market opened. It's been reported that Tarasenko was holding out for a longer term deal in free agency, but that the market essentially passed him by. By the time he came down in asking price both in terms of salary and term, the market had moved on. Other free agent forwards like Ryan O'Reilly, Tyler Bertuzzi, Matt Duchene, Jason Zucker, Michael Bunting and Alex Killorn all signed early in the free agent period for more reasonable contracts than Tarasenko was demanding. In New York, the locale Tarasenko left as a free agent, the Rangers opted to sign Blake Wheeler rather than extend an offer to Tarasenko. In the end, the only offer he was really left with was a one year deal from the Senators... a team that hadn't/hasn't made the playoffs in six seasons. 

Now it looks like Tarasenko will once again factor into trade deadline rumors, thanks to a failed season in Canada's Capital city. So... any takers?