ST. LOUIS — Imagine being a 21-year-old kid dropped into a foreign city you know nothing about, needing to master a new language and then have the weight of that city put on your shoulders. That's heavy. And it's what Vladimir Tarasenko had to go through when he arrived in St. Louis in 2013.
It's been a winding road since Tarasenko's scintillating 2-goal debut against the Detroit Red Wings nine years ago, but it's a journey that deserves to be appreciated.
On Monday night against the Vancouver Canucks, Tarasenko became just the fifth player in Blues history to record 500 points with the team. He joined Bernie Federko, Brett Hull, Brian Sutter and Garry Unger. Not bad company. In fact, three of those guys have their number in the rafters.
Tarasenko has scored at least 30 goals in a season five different times, battled numerous painful injuries, helped lead the Blues to the franchise's first-ever Stanley Cup, requested a trade, was left unprotected in the expansion draft and now, he's back to leading the Blues in goals at the age of 30.
Safe to say it's been a pretty wild ride.
But when you hear the crowd at Enterprise Center breaking out the "Vladi" chants on Monday night, and you see the appreciation in Tarasenko's eyes post-game, you realize his bond with St. Louis is a special one.
The shy Russian kid who could barely carry a conversation with anyone has become a full-fledged St. Louisan.
I don't know how Tarasenko's Blues journey will end. He's got one year left on his contract for 2022-2023. Will Doug Armstrong use his impressive bounce-back season to trade him? It's easy to see that possibility.
I also don't know if his No. 91 will end up in the rafters along some of those other 500 point scorers someday.
All I know is that although not all the times were bright and cheery, we should look back on Tarasenko's journey as one to smile about. No, he never became Alexander Ovechkin, but he became ours. And I'm thankful for that.