It was always a farfetched idea that Vladimir Tarasenko could ever return to the St. Louis Blues via free agency in 2023. The Blues didn’t have the cap space and Tarasenko just felt like he had moved on.
However, things clearly did not work out the way Tarasenko intended in his first foray into free agency. He was not one of the big signings on day one and, in fact, took several weeks to find a new team.
Not only did it take time, but it took a lot of twists to get the former Blues sniper inked.