TARASENKO OPTIONS, BERTUZZI WATCH, VEGAS GAMBLING, AND MORE

TORONTO, ON — With 10 games to go before the March 3 trade deadline hits, the St. Louis Blues sit nine points back of a wildcard spot in the West and reality is starting to set in. St. Louis has lost five straight games, seven of their last 10 and rank 27th in goals-against and is a shadow of the team that won it all in 2019.

General Manager Doug Armstrong has been taking calls on numerous players, with pending unrestricted free agents Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan O’Reilly leading the charge.

Forwards Ivan Barbashev, Noal Acciari, Josh Leivo and Tyler Pitlick, defenceman Niko Mikkola, and goalie Thomas Greiss are also on expiring contracts and Armstrong could move out all or most of his pending UFAs to speed up his retool going into the summer.

As the Blues don’t play their next game until Saturday when they host the Arizona Coyotes, I’m not sure we’ll see a move take place over the next few days, but teams are calling, and it wouldn’t shock me if Armstrong starts getting the ball rolling early.

There’s chatter O’Reilly is open to an extension, but would he commit to a short-term deal to stay in St. Louis? Do the Blues prefer to move him and revisit those discussions in July? There’s plenty of interest, with Carolina and Vegas among the teams knocking on the door.

The short-term future for Tarasenko, the veteran winger possessing a full no-trade clause, made a comment over the All-Star weekend that piqued my interest. When asked by The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford is he felt this year’s All-Star Game would be his last in a Blues sweater, he said:

“Yes, obviously yes, because even Vladi don’t know the future of Vladi. There is only one guy who knows more than me, and his name is Doug Armstrong. I think that’s the guy who you should talk about my future (with) the Blues.”

There is strong belief Tarasenko plans on testing the free agent waters this summer. During the off-season, he was willing to waive his NTC to the New York Rangers, New York Islanders or New Jersey Devils – if there were other teams in play, I wasn’t aware of it.

I’ve heard the Rangers are still an option. But if Vladi doesn’t know his own future, that suggests to me he’d be open to moving to other playoff contenders. Would the Hurricanes, Golden Knights, Minnesota Wild or Calgary Flames be acceptable to him?

His agent, Paul Theofanous has not replied when asked for an update on his client’s future.

The other factor is how much will St. Louis retain on Tarasenko’s $7.5 million cap hit – or O’Reilly’s same figure, for that matter?

Tarasenko is making a salary of $5.5 million this season, while O’Reilly is making $1 million after his $5 million bonus was already paid out. The Blues can retain up to half on both guys, and that would surely help out a trade.

Armstrong has his hands full over the next three weeks, and the Blues could be the centre of attention this deadline season.

VEGAS ROLLING THE DICE?

Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley isn’t afraid to spend money. He wants to win. He’s passionate about it and will do whatever he can to help his team’s chances.

With Mark Stone out for the rest of the regular-season – Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy suggested he could be back for the playoffs – you’ve gotta think Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon is looking around the League to fill that void.

You can’t replace what Stone brings to the table, but if/when the team places him on LTIR and he really is out until the playoffs, that extra $9.5 million is cap overage space gives McCrimmon a lot of wiggle room to play with.

Aside from throwing a wrench in other team’s plans, Vegas doesn’t necessarily have to push a team to retain a big chunk of a player’s team – i.e. O’Reilly’s $7.5M, Patrick Kane $10.5M or James van Riemdsyk’s $7M.

As of this evening, per our friends at CapFriendly, the Knights haven’t placed Stone on LTIR. They can retroactively do that later; no deal so no rush. But I’m definitely keeping my eyes on them given their newfound cap flexibility.

Do the Knights have the assets to make an impact acquisition? Maybe that’s the bigger question? I don’t see them parting with top prospect Brendan Brisson. Without a second-round pick this summer, would they consider moving their first rounder in a deal?

Maybe the team looks to fill two holes instead of one with that cap space? I wonder if a player with term, perhaps Vancouver’s Brock Boeser, suddenly lands on their radar.

The Knights suddenly have options, too. Let’s see how they maneuver the next three weeks.

TRADE BAIT, BERTUZZI EDITION

It seems the Detroit Red Wings are focused on getting captain Dylan Larkin locked up to a contract extension and are upping their efforts after we were the first to report last month’s offer fell short.

As noted in Monday's report, Larkin’s camp is looking for an average annual value in the $9 million neighborhood.

With Yzerman trying to get work out an eight-year deal with Larkin’s agent Pat Brisson, there haven’t been any further contract negotiations with Detroit’s other main pending UFA Tyler Bertuzzi.

Bertuzzi, who has moved into our Top 10 on our Trade Watch List, is being dangled and several teams have reached out about his availability. As a result of a lack of contract talk, one source close to the situation told me they now “expect” Bertuzzi to be dealt by the deadline.

Teams like the Minnesota Wild, Toronto Maple Leafs, Calgary Flames and Dallas Stars are all looking to bolster their top-six and Bertuzzi would be an affordable option with his $4.75 million cap hit.

The Red Wings have a few other players on expiring contracts that will draw interest, such as defencemen Olli Maatta and Jordan Oesterle and forwards Pius Suter and Oskar Sundqvist, but Bertuzzi will land them the biggest return.

TIP-INS

Following up on the last piece I did, here are some more tips from around the League:

• With clubs like Colorado, Carolina and Winnipeg continuously linked to Jonathan Toews, another team to add to the mix – and this one caught me off guard – is Washington. The Capitals have interest in Toews, but I do not know if he’ll consider them an option.

• You can remove Florida from the Jakob Chychrun sweepstakes as they are not willing to move the assets to make it happen. But as our Dennis Bernstein first reported over All-Star Weekend, keep an eye on Boston here.

• Barbashev and his $2.25 million salary cap hit are generating a lot of interest. With all the attention focused on ROR and Tarasenko, the race for Barbashev could be greater.

• The Montreal Canadiens prefer to get Cole Caufield locked into a seven- or eight-year contract extension. That seems to be their focus, and if they can agree on the right dollar figure, my sense is Caufield is ready to lock in, too.

• Echoing what my TFP colleague Irfaan Gaffar said on Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver this week: Jim Rutherford isn’t resigning.

• A thought... If the Carolina Hurricanes do something out of left field and bring in a centre with term and big money, can they convince the other team to take back Jesperi Kotkaniemi?