Tarasenko to have shoulder surgery again, be re-evaluated in five months

Third surgery required on left shoulder, which was injured early last season, 

forced Blues right wing to miss 61 games before returning in playoffs

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- The news wasn't good from Doug Armstrong concerning right wing Vladimir Tarasenko.

In fact, it was a worst-case scenario, one that was repeated nearly a year ago, and the words seem almost repetitive, but Tarasenko is projected to go under the knife again to repair his left shoulder again.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blues right wing Vladimir Tarasenko (91) will have shoulder surgery again

next week after MRI revealed surgery last October wasn't done properly. 

Armstrong announced that Tarasenko, who dislocated his left shoulder Oct. 24, 2019 and had surgery five days later, will again have surgery on the same shoulder for the third time in his career sometime next week and be re-evaluated in five months and is likely to miss the start of the 2020-21 season.

There's always the chance Tarasenko gets a second and even third opinion before going under the knife but nevertheless, the previous procedure didn't get the job done properly.

Tarasenko, who was originally slated to return in March before the NHL paused its regular season because of COVID-19, went through a vigorous rehab process and got himself prepared to go during the NHL's Return to Play Plan.

Tarasenko played in five games in Edmonton, two round-robin games, an exhibition game and Games 1-2 of the first round series against the Vancouver Canucks but missed the final three games because he was "unfit to play." The Blues sent him back to St. Louis last week to have an MRI on the shoulder.

"It was obviously very limited," Armstrong said of Tarasenko's play in Edmonton, which yielded no points. "He had shoulder surgery obviously at the start of the season. He rehabbed, he came back, we had to do another MRI. He wasn't feeling good. That surgery didn't take the way we had hoped. It wasn't successful. He's going to go back in and have more surgery next week and it's serious in the sense that he won't be with us and he won't be re-evaluated for five months after the date of surgery.

"It's certainly not a positive that we're going through right now. It's his third surgery. We just know that he prepares and trains hard and he needs to get back and play well for us, but yeah, it's a concern in the sense that he's going to have three surgeries."

Tarasenko was injured against the Los Angeles Kings in the Blues' 10th game of the regular season and missed the remaining 61 games. He posted on his Instagram account Wednesday afternoon that he vows to come back again:

"Last few months, I felt like something (was) wrong," Tarasenko wrote, "but still (tried to play. Then we found out what it is when I get back home from the bubble. To take some speculations away, no, I'm not done, career is not done. There was a problem which (was) found finally, so I'm more motivated (than) ever to finally get healthy and play. I hope and believe that doctors will do their job, fix the problem and there is the solution for that, so can't wait to to get it done and start working on coming back, playing hockey, score goals and enjoy the game again!" 

There has to be some concern though that Tarasenko, 28, is having a third major surgery on the same shoulder he injured on the final game of the 2016-17 regular-season at Colorado.

"It's the third surgery," Armstrong said. "We're hoping he gets back to the level that he was at before. I'm not concerned about the work ethic and the approach he's going to take to put himself in a great spot, but time is going to tell on how quickly and the impact he can have when he gets back. I think he can have the same impact as before, but it's really irrelevant what I think or what I feel. It's going to be how he does when he gets back."

The Blues were able to finish the regular season first in the Western Conference even with Tarasenko, who had 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in 10 games, missing 61 of 71 games, so don't expect Armstrong to go searching for a goal scorer for a cap-strapped squad.

"Scoring wasn't an issue for us last season," Armstrong said. "Having Vladi in our lineup makes us a better team. So no, I don't think we're going to try and go out and replace Vladi with another Vladi. We all know what the salary cap situation is. Jordan Kyrou has to come back and be given an opportunity to have an impact on our team and he has to take  that opportunity and run with it, so I think there's internal players that are going to come back again. When you look at our roster and you look what we have moving forward, a lot of guys from last year's team, we only have two restricted players in (Vince) Dunn and (Jacob) de la Rose and one unrestricted in Alex Pietrangelo, the core group that had 70 games for the majority are under contract."

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Vladimir Tarasenko (91) was able to play in four playoff games for the Blues

after having shoulder surgery last October. He will have surgery again and

will be re-evaluated in five months.

In the meantime, when the Blues do reconvene for training camp, they'll have to once again play without their top goal scorer.

"Well, he can score big goals, and that's what he does," Blues coach Craig Berube said of Tarasenko. "He's a big goal scorer. He can score at any time of a game. It's important to have a guy like that. He's a leader on our team too. He wears an 'A.' He's missed for sure. Like I said, he's a big part of our team and always has been. He needs to get healthy and we need him back."