Tarasenko shares behind the scenes details of his free agent experience

In case you missed the news earlier this week, the Ottawa Senators signed free agent forward Vladimir Tarasenko to a one year, $5 million contract.

The signing was a bit of a surprise given that there were rumors that Tarasenko had multi-year offers from the likes of the Carolina Hurricanes, Seattle Kraken and others in the opening days of free agency. In the end though, Tarasenko took a one year deal from a non-playoff team so... what gives?

Well, when meeting with the Ottawa media today Tarasenko stated that he was compelled to sign with the Senators after talking to the likes of Brady Tkachuk and Claude Giroux.

Tarasenko also mentioned that he's friends with Senators defenseman Artem Zub and that the pair often play online games together.

As for why he didn't receive a bigger, better deal elsewhere in free agency though, Tarasenko essentially said, "No comment."

"I don't really want to talk about it (free agency) anymore, I like to focus on the good things and this (signing in Ottawa) is a very good thing"

- Vladimir Tarasenko

I think it's pretty obvious to everyone at this point that Tarasenko simply bet on himself and lost his bet. He gambled that the longer he held out, the better deal he'd get. But when budgets and cap space dried up, all that was left for him was a one year deal in Ottawa. Now, I'm not saying you have to feel bad for a guy who will earn $5 million sheets this upcoming season, but he's definitely a guy I'll be pulling for this upcoming season. Would love to see him help lead the Sens back into the playoffs and then earn himself a proper pay day next summer.