Vladimir Tarasenko reveals why he chose Red Wings
The Tarasenk-SHOW is headed to Hockeytown.
HockeyFeed
While the Detroit Red Wings elected against pursuing the likes of Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Jake Guentzel in the early wave of the NHL free agency period, they did make a handful of additions by signing veteran goaltender Cam Talbot along with defenseman Erik Gustafsson and forward Tyler Motte.
But GM Steve Yzerman wasn't finished yet, as he lured Russian forward Vladimir Tarasenko to the Motor City with a two-year contract. Tarasenko is just weeks removed from winning the Stanley Cup for the second time in his career with the Florida Panthers; he previously helped the St. Louis Blues to their first title in 2019.
During his media availability session earlier this afternoon, Tarasenko gushed over the history of the Red Wings, whom he noted is "one of the most famous" teams in the world.
"Detroit is one of the most famous if not the most famous team in the world when you talk about hockey history," he said. "Growing up in Russia, a lot of people followed Detroit because of the Russian 5. On my first PlayStation I played with Detroit too."
If you remember, Tarasenko actually scored his first NHL goal against the Red Wings at the start of the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season:
There's a very real possibility that Tarasenko could find himself playing on the same line as future Hall of Famer Patrick Kane, a player that he faced routinely when the pair were opponents on division rivals Chicago and St. Louis.
"It would be amazing," he said of the possibility of playing with Kane. "We played against each other for so many years and if someone told me then that we would play together on a line, I would have been like, there is no way. I don't think we were friends at that time."
Tarasenko split last season between the Ottawa Senators and Panthers, scoring 23 goals with 32 assists and adding another five goals and four assists in 23 postseason games.
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