Tarasenko to return to St. Louis to have left shoulder evaluated

Blues forward has missed past two playoff games vs. Vancouver, 

will meet with team doctors; team will know more by Monday 

By LOU KORAC
The Blues announced on Tuesday that right wing Vladimir Tarasenko will return to St. Louis to meet with team doctors for further evaluation of his surgically-repaired left shoulder.

Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said in a team release that an update on Tarasenko's status will be available Monday.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko will return to St. Louis to have his 

surgically-repaired left shoulder looked at by team doctors.

Tarasenko missed one round-robin game against Vegas and Games 3 and 4 of the Western Conference First Round series against Vancouver, ruled each time he's been "unfit to play." 

Tarasenko was injured when he dislocated his shoulder Oct. 24 against the Los Angeles Kings and missed 61 games after undergoing shoulder surgery on Oct. 29. He returned to the lineup for the first time in the Blues' exhibition game July 29 against the Chicago Blackhawks and had played in five games (including the exhibition) since the NHL's Return to Play Plan resumed.

It can't be good news since Tarasenko, who had 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in 10 regular-season games, had roughly nine months post-surgery to rest, rehab and get ready to return to action, although Blues coach Craig Berube said the team isn't jumping to conclusions but there are concerns.

"Yeah, it's concerning, I think," Berube said. "We don't know a lot yet, so I'm not going to jump to conclusions on anything. Listen, he's not feeling right and so that's why he's going to get it looked at. I don't know what to tell you to be honest. It is concerning, but we've got to wait and see.

"No signs really. He obviously wasn't comfortable with the way it felt, so we've got to get it looked at. Other than that, I really don't know a whole lot about it."

Berube wasn't ruling out that Tarasenko could return sometime down the road should the Blues still be alive in these playoffs, but it's safe to say he won't return for the remainder of this first round series against Vancouver.

"There's always a chance," Berube said. "He's going to get evaluated and we'll see what's going on and we can go from there. We'll see what happens after that evaluation."

Once Tarasenko missed the round-robin game against Vegas, it raised some questions as to what's going on. With the shoulder surgery being so far out, there was thought if it was a gradual buildup from missing so much time to getting back into an elevated competition so quickly.

"I don't think we thought there was any danger," Berube said. "He was sore and you know we just thought the rest would do him good. So there wasn't no real big concern at the time. But like I said, we'll have to see what he looks like after he gets evaluated."

Tarasenko had no points in the four games since his return, and Berube was asked if there was some hesitancy in his game.

"Yeah, obviously. But I understood why, like coming back from surgery and nine months off," Berube said. "I looked at these games that he played in the round-robin as preseason games almost. It's not easy being off that long and coming back and just jumping right into it and just being full out. I knew that he'd come back and probably ease his way in a little bit and that's natural for any player that's been off for that long and to go through what he went through. For sure he wasn't full out, but in saying that, I didn't think there was anything wrong. I just thought that was part of the process that I thought, taking these games, easing his way in a little bit."

Tarasenko looked good during the two-week training camp in mid-July after some hard and strenuous training sessions to get fit and get the shoulder strong enough to return.

"Obviously during camp, I'm not saying there were problems, but when you get something done like that and you're out nine months, you're going to have some issues when you're coming back no matter what, right," Berube said. "But he felt good and he was ready to go. When it gets ramped up in a real game, things change, right? The intensity level goes way up and the banging and things like that. I'm sure that maybe that has something to do with it, but really I'm not sure exactly. Nobody is, even Vladi's not. We'll see what shows up here and we can go from there."

The Blues have been good at replacing impact players in their lineup. They were first in the Western Conference during the regular-season playing 61 of their 71 games without Tarasenko. They've played bigger portions of the season without other impact players, such as Jaden Schwartz, David Perron, Brayden Schenn, Alex Pietrangelo, Colton Parayko and Oskar Sundqvist to name some.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Vladimir Tarasenko celebrates with teammates Jay Bouwmeester (left) and

David Perron after scoring earlier this season against Colorado.

"We're a team," Berube said. "I look at it we play without players at times. We have to with injuries and different situations that come up. Our team is what makes us a good team. We rely on each other. Different people can come in and take people's spots and just do the job."

Such is the case for center Jacob de la Rose, who was inserted into this series in Game 3 and the Blues have gone 2-0 since. It's what they do.

"I feel like the way we play too is pretty simple and everybody plays for each other," de la Rose said. "We work hard. Blues hockey is get pucks deep, play hard, play good defensively and that's what we've been doing here, and I feel like that's what we did all year too during the regular season. A guy like me here coming into this series too, you know what they expect of you and it's hard work and we expect hard work out of everyone and that's what we've been doing. Last few games here it's been successful."