"It's not a positive that we're going through right now," Armstrong added. "We just know he prepares and trains hard and needs to get back and play well for us. It's a concern in the sense that he's going to have three surgeries."
Tarasenko missed one round-robin contest in Edmonton and was held out of Games 3 and 4 against the Vancouver Canucks before returning to St. Louis to meet with team doctors. He originally injured his shoulder on Oct. 24, 2019 vs. Los Angeles and missed 61 games prior to the NHL resuming play in August.
"Obviously long season, long year, missing playing games but it is what it is," Tarasenko posted to social media. "Last few months I felt like something (was) wrong, but still trying to play. Then we found out what it was when I got back home from the bubble. To take some speculation away, no, I'm not done, (my) career is not done. Now I am more motivated than ever to finally get healthy and play. I hope and believe that the doctors will do their job, fix the problem and there is a solution for it."
Prior to the injury, Tarasenko had posted 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in 10 regular-season games.
"He can score big goals, that's what he does," Blues Head Coach Craig Berube said. "He's a goal scorer, he can score at any time of a game. It's important to have a guy like that, and he's a leader on our team, too. He wears an 'A,' so he's missed for sure. He's a big part of our team, always has been here. He needs to get healthy and we need him back."
