{"id":668433,"date":"2026-05-27T17:11:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T17:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/668433\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T17:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T17:11:09","slug":"latest-on-vladimir-tarasenko-minnesota-wild-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/668433\/","title":{"rendered":"Latest On Vladimir Tarasenko, Minnesota Wild \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although the Minnesota Wild \u201ccertainly liked\u201d having Vladimir Tarasenko<\/a> on their roster this past season, it\u2019s questionable whether the club will end up being able to sign him to a contract extension, Joe Smith of The Athletic reported today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to Smith, \u201cthe price would have to be right\u201d for the Wild to sign Tarasenko to an extension, meaning below the $4.75MM cap hit on his previous deal. After a bounce-back season that saw him produce 23 goals and 47 points on a strong Wild team, Tarasenko may feel he will be able to earn more on the open market than Minnesota is prepared to offer him.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Smith also noted one key factor complicating negotiations between the Wild and Tarasenko: agents. Tarasenko is reportedly repped by both Pat Brisson of CAA and Paul Theofanous of TMI, part of a formal collaboration agreement<\/a> by Theofanous and CAA signed in February. Smith reported that Theofanous \u201cis taking the lead with Tarasenko\u2019s next deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

That could make it harder to reach a deal with Minnesota, as Theofanous is the agent who represents the Wild\u2019s franchise player, Kirill Kaprizov<\/a>. According to Smith, the Wild got \u201csqueezed into\u201d the $17MM AAV mega-extension they signed with Kaprizov, and it\u2019s Smith\u2019s belief that the Wild are \u201cunlikely [to] play ball\u201d with Theofanous again this summer.<\/p>\n

The Wild have numerous pending unrestricted free agents to consider signing, including Mats Zuccarello<\/a>, Michael McCarron<\/a>, Marcus Johansson<\/a>, and Nick Foligno<\/a>. The Wild may not have the cap room to retain everybody, and may prefer to sign a player like Johansson to an extension rather than Tarasenko. Johansson, 35, scored 15 goals and 49 points this past season and is repped by J.P. Barry of CAA. AFP Analytics<\/a> projects Johansson\u2019s next deal at one-year, $3.2MM and Tarasenko\u2019s at one-year, $3.4MM.<\/p>\n

Although the Wild appreciated Tarasenko\u2019s efforts in his year with the team, especially his proactive work to help rookie Danila Yurov<\/a> adjust to life in North America, Tarasenko will likely be able to receive more substantial offers on the open market than what Minnesota will likely be prepared to offer. Tarasenko himself said he \u201cwould love to return\u201d to the Wild, but such a return may not be in the cards for a variety of reasons.<\/p>\n

Beyond just the recent history between Tarasenko\u2019s lead representative and the Wild\u2019s front office, the state of upcoming free agency could simply be too favorable for Tarasenko to pass up on a chance to test the open market. Free agency is widely expected to be thin on talent, with few difference-making scorers set to be available.<\/p>\n

While Tarasenko hasn\u2019t produced at above a middle-six rate for two years, he does have exceptional pedigree as a former star scorer and a two-time Stanley Cup champion. With many teams set to have significant cap space available, and precious little high-end free agent talent on the market to spend it on, the conditions are optimal for Tarasenko to enter the open market and receive a (relatively) substantial contract.<\/p>\n

For as much as the Wild appreciated having Tarasenko on their team, it\u2019s unlikely they will be able to match the kind of contract he could receive in free agency. The team is expected to be aggressive this summer in procuring high-end talent to support their immediate efforts to win a Stanley Cup (while they still have franchise defenseman Quinn Hughes<\/a> under contract) and will likely want to preserve as much cap space as possible for their chase for a No. 1 center. Among other factors, that could price Tarasenko out of the Twin Cities.<\/p>\n

Photos courtesy of Nick Wosika-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Although the Minnesota Wild \u201ccertainly liked\u201d having Vladimir Tarasenko on their roster this past season, it\u2019s questionable whether…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[4828,385,99,153863],"class_list":["post-668433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-minnesota-wild","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-vladimir-tarasenko"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}