Red Wings ink Tarasenko to 2-year deal at $4.75M annually

The Detroit Red Wings signed Vladimir Tarasenko to a two-year contract with an average annual value of $4.75 million, the club announced Wednesday.

Tarasenko was arguably the best unrestricted free agent remaining.

The 32-year-old is fresh off winning the Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers. It was his second championship in five years after he helped the St. Louis Blues win it all in 2019.

Tarasenko posted six goals and eight assists in 19 games down the stretch of the regular season with the Panthers before adding five tallies and four helpers over the 24 games of their title run.

Before the trade deadline in March, the Ottawa Senators dealt Tarasenko to Florida for a fourth-round pick in this year's draft and a 2025 third-rounder. The Russian winger collected 17 goals and 24 assists across 57 contests for the Senators in 2023-24.

Tarasenko averaged less ice time (14:48) in the regular season than any other campaign except his rookie year with the Blues in 2012-13. That dipped to 13:22 in the playoffs.

He's coming off the one-year, $5-million contract he signed with the Senators last July. Ottawa retained 50% of that figure when the team traded the veteran forward to Florida, per CapFriendly.

Tarasenko played his first 10 seasons and part of another with the Blues, who shipped him to the New York Rangers in February 2023.

The Red Wings brought back veteran forward and fellow UFA Patrick Kane earlier in free agency, agreeing to a one-year, $4-million pact plus $2.5 million in bonuses on Sunday.

Moments after signing Tarasenko, Detroit traded forward Robby Fabbri and a conditional 2025 fourth-round pick to the Anaheim Ducks for 22-year-old minor-league goaltender Gage Alexander.