Tarasenko healthy, looks forward to defending Stanley Cup with Blues

MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Vladimir Tarasenko said Thursday he is looking forward to helping the St. Louis Blues defend the Stanley Cup, not back at the shoulder injury that kept him away from the team since October.

"We're just preparing for something big," the forward said. "The biggest challenge in the NHL is playoffs, so we're going to start a new season with playoffs from the break, which is nice. Everybody understands how important it is and everybody understands we have to be ready to go right away. Just do what we can to prepare and play our best in the playoffs."

Tarasenko hasn't played in an NHL game since dislocating his shoulder Oct. 24 against the Los Angeles Kings. He had surgery five days later and was preparing to return when the season was paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.

"Everything is in the past," he said. "Sometimes it was really hard, but now I'm skating with the team and I'm excited about it and I don't have to think about this anymore.

"... It's been really nice, it's been a couple emotional practices, fast-paced, but everybody is having fun working together finally."

The Blues (42-19-10, .662 points percentage) will play in the round-robin portion of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers in the Western Conference against the Colorado Avalanche (42-20-8, .657), Vegas Golden Knights (39-24-8, .606) and Dallas Stars (37-24-8, .594) to determine seeding for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Western tournament, which includes four best-of-5 series, will be played at Rogers Place in Edmonton beginning Aug. 1.

Tarasenko led the Blues in goals the previous five seasons, scoring at least 33 in each, including an NHL career-high 40 in 2015-16, and scored 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in 10 games before the injury. He has been skating with Brayden Schenn and Jaden Schwartz, his regular linemates, at training camp, which began Monday.

"Obviously we play a lot together and I'm really happy to skate with those guys during a line in practices," Tarasenko said. "Hopefully they're happy too. We played a lot of time [together] during past years. I think we have really good chemistry. I think we know what we need to do to have success as a line. ... We had experience last year, so we're going to try to do the same thing, score some goals, help our team win. ... We're talking a lot about our game, and hopefully we're going to have success this year too."

Coach Craig Berube said Tarasenko is sharp, despite not playing in a game for nine months.

"He looks great," Berube said. "He's shooting the puck really well, skating well and I'm sure he feels really good with that much time off, the healing process and everything, and the strength. He's in a good spot."

The expected timetable for Tarasenko's recovery was five months, and he was skating by the end of February.

"It was hard in the start. I'm not going to lie," he said. "I wasn't watching some hockey right after I got injured because it was really hard to watch. I know there was a long, long rehab ahead of me, but thanks to my doctors, therapists and everybody that worked with me in my rehab. They helped me a lot, but mostly to my wife and kids. I don't know what I [was] going to do if I was single, but they really helped me to not get frustrated. They always support me. Just going step by step, get excited from a little progress, and now we're here."