Vladimir Tarasenko injury update: St. Louis Blues GM confident forward will return for playoff run

St. Louis Blues general manager Doug Armstrong recently told ESPN's Emily Kaplan he is confident injured forward Vladimir Tarasenko will re-join the team for its playoff run in the spring.

"He's diligent with his rehab," Armstrong told ESPN. "I know that he works very hard. We actually tried to slow him down a little bit. We told him to spend time with family, take vacations, because when we get into January and he can start going full barrel, we want him to."

Tarasenko, 27, underwent surgery on his left shoulder after he was injured in an Oct. 24 game against the Los Angeles Kings and was originally stated to be out for at least five months.

"Five months will be April 1," Armstrong said. "Season ends April 4, and we're hopeful he'll be on that timeline."

Kaplan noted that since St. Louis put Tarasenko on long-term injured reserve, the Blues have an extra $7.5 million in salary cap space to play with. But Armstrong did not speculate using that room to acquire a highly-paid scorer while they await Tarasenko's return.

"There's no player we're going to get that's as good as Vladdy," Armstrong said. "So I'd rather get Vladdy back than spend that money. But also, it's not an injury where you can come back exponentially earlier than the doctors say, because it's just a healing thing. It's not a strength thing. So I think we're looking into the first round anyways."

The Russian winger had scored 10 points in 10 games at the time of his injury, creating questions about who would step up in his wake. Despite his loss, the Blues (42 points) sit at the top of the Western Conference as of Dec. 8 as the Blues ride effective team defense (83 goals allowed through Dec. 8 marks them ninth-best) to Stanley Cup contention again.

Tarasenko has a history with injuries to his left shoulder: Tarasenko said he dislocated that shoulder in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final last May and previously had surgery to repair a dislocation in the same shoulder following the 2017-18 season.