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Right wing of the St. Louis Blues, Vladimir Tarasenko has been deserving of a lot of recognition lately. Within one week, the 22 year old scored his first NHL hat trick goal in a 4-3 overtime win against the Dallas Stars, and was named the NHL’s First Star of the Week. That hat trick goal he scored though was far from normal, in fact, he was the first Blues player to score one on an overtime goal since Brett Hull set the bar Oct. 9th, 1997.
The day after the teams win against Dallas, the Blues held an optional skate. While players, like Tarasenko that are considered “top-end” often take the day off on an optional skate day, the young hockey player decided to spend the skate improving his skills. It is clear that something that really matters to the ambitious right wing is improvement. He utilized his time to practice wrist shots and continued to work on taking himself from being a good shooter to a great shooter.
Coach Ken Hitchcock of the team is extremely supportive and sees that Tarasenko is talented and wants to be a player that will contribute during every game and at the same time be a significant player in the NHL. Tarasenko focuses on how he can make his next share of ice time better than the last and it really shows, especially when he takes the high expectations set for him as a positive thing. He takes everything as a good pressure and you can see it in the way that he plays.
Though he has accomplished quite a bit in his career so far, I mean c’mon, he played in the 2014 Sochi Olympics AND currently leads his team with 11 points in 10 games, he works hard to keep himself grounded and does not gloat after a standout game. With 36 goals and 79 points in 113 NHL games, and being a strong candidate for “goal of the year” from Monday nights win against the NY Rangers at Madison Square Garden, it’s kind of hard to imagine that, but with the help of his father and grandfather, who he shares a name with, he is able to do it. Keeping yourself level headed and grounded and remembering where you came from is rare but when people have a quality like this, it makes for a memorable person.
A player with humility, incredible chemistry on the ice, especially with teammate Jori Lethera who he previously played in the Kontinenatal Hockey League with, and ultimate respect for his teammates, Tarasenko is going to succeed even beyond what he wants to. At such a young and impressionable age and time in his life where he may be more inclined to let his success get to his head, he does an incredible job at working hard and making sure that it is all about his team on the ice and not just himself. He does not believe in being able to slack off after playing a few games, and though his work ethic is so strong and straight forward, he is still able to remember who he is and take thinngs lightly. The qualities he has and the work he puts into what he does is what differentiates him from other players in the League his age.
