Report: Tarasenko still standing by the trade request he made last season

Fans were startled, not only by Tarasenko's achievements this season, but also by his apparent friendship with newcomer Pavel Buchnevich. Rutherford wonders if Buchnevich and his "other Russian comrades" might be able to persuade him to stay.

When it comes to Tarasenko, the talk has returned because, as Rutherford points out: «There were flags raised when Armstrong and Peter Chiarelli, the Blues' new VP of hockey operations, were at the Philadelphia-Tampa Bay game on Nov. 18. That night, Dave Brown, who is Philadelphia's head of pro scouting, was in St. Louis for the Blues-San Jose game. There's no evidence that was connected in any way to Tarasenko, but the Flyers were on the list of teams to which he would approve a trade.»