Tarasenko still wants a trade but realizes he’ll have to wait
Rory Boylen of Sportsnet: The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford to Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek on Vladimir Tarasenko‘s trade request to the St. Louis Blues.
“Yes to my knowledge talking to people close to the situation for the past several months and even as recent as yesterday, Vladimir Tarasenko still requests a trade from the Blues. He realizes that may not happen soon, it may not happen this year, it could happen next off-season, or maybe Doug Armstrong never finds the right deal for Vladimir Tarasenko and he plays out the last two years of his contract.
“The desire for Tarasenko remains the same.”
Tarasenko has been playing on the Blues third line and is still being able to produce. Trading in-season a $7.5 million salary cap hit isn’t easy. If he continues to play well, the rumors will still follow.
Campbell and the Maple Leafs to talk after the season
The Fourth Period: The Toronto Maple Leafs are sitting about $75.28 million for next season. The salary cap ceiling is expected to go up a bit, possibly to $82.5 million.
Jack Campbell, Ilya Mikheyev, and Jason Spezza will be UFAs, with Rasmus Sandin an RFA.
David Pagnotta said on NHL Tonight that the Maple Leafs held some preliminary talks with Campbell before the season but the sides likely won’t negotiate until after the season.
“I can tell you, they had very, very loose preliminary discussions right before the start of the season – between the Leafs and Campbell’s agent – and there hasn’t been much since; there’s been really no discussions to this point.”
“My understanding, my scope of this scenario, is that they’re going to wait. I think both sides are going to be comfortable waiting to see how the season plays out before ultimately determining the date of Jack Campbell.”
If Campbell has a good season, he could be looking for something around the $5 million range.