REPORT: Former 40 goal scorer will ONLY waive his No-trade-clause for 3 teams

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Ryan
February 9, 2023 (12:40)

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The National Hockey Leagues Trade Deadline is fast approaching. This year the trade deadline is on March 3rd, and with it less than a month away, the rumours and trade talks are starting to fly.

One interesting team to watch is the St. Louis Blues, who this past offseason committed a lot of money to their future players in Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou, which left little money left over for the veteran players who have been there for awhile in Ryan O'Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko. Both players are UFA's at this end of this season, and the St. Louis Blues need to make a tough decision with them.

The Blues are currently 8 points out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference, and with only 31 games remaining in their schedule, they do have the capability of pulling themselves back into a playoff spot, but it's going to be difficult.

The tough situation they have to deal with is if they feel they can make the playoffs, they need Tarasenko and O'Reilly to make a run, but if they feel like they can't make it, they need to trade them or risk losing them both for nothing in free agency.

After a few down years, Tarasenko had requested a trade out of St. Louis, but nothing was ever done. But according to NHL Insider David Pagnotta of the Fourth Period , that trade could finally be happening as he has waived his NTC for 3 teams.

In addition to his belief that Tarasenko intends to hit the free agent market this summer, Pagnotta writes: "During the off-season, he was willing to waive his NTC to the New York Rangers, New York Islanders or New Jersey Devils � if there were other teams in play, I wasn't aware of it."

Like many star players, it looks like Tarasenko has an interest in playing in New York. With the Islanders just trading for Horvat, it's unlikely they make a move to bring in Tarasenko, but after hearing that Patrick Kane has an injury, the Rangers could look to bring him in as a rental to play with his fellow country-mate Artemni Panarin.