Wild 2025-26 Report Cards: Vladimir Tarasenko – The Hockey Writers – Minnesota Wild

The month of July is halfway over, but the start of the new NHL season is still over two and a half months away. While looking forward to a new season is always exciting, it’s hard to forget how the last season ended, especially for the Minnesota Wild, who looked like they had a promising future and still do. 

We’re still looking back on the past as we continue to hand out report cards for Wild forwards. We’re moving up the lineup as we get to more third liners, and this time it’s Vladimir Tarasenko, who, like some of his teammates, bounced around the lineup quite a bit. In this article, we’ll take a look at how he did in the regular season and the postseason to come up with an overall grade for the season. 

Tarasenko’s Resurgence 

The Wild traded future considerations for Vladimir Tarasenko in June 2025, and quite a few fans were left scratching their heads. A big offseason had been promised, and while Tarasenko is a respectable player, he wasn’t who they were expecting, and this was before Quinn Hughes came into the picture. Tarasenko has had an up-and-down career and looked like he was heading in the upward direction when he joined the Wild’s roster. 

It was fair for fans to be skeptical because he had bounced around a bit and was in the later stages of his career. However, he continued to bounce back as he played in 75 games and scored 23 goals plus assisted on 24 others for 47 points. It was his highest points total since the 2021-22 season, and 13 of those points were earned on the power play. 

His offense was impressive, but his defense didn’t lack either as he registered 60 hits and 33 blocked shots. Although both stats are respectable, a team can always use more blocked shots from every player on their team. 

“It was, yeah, meant a lot for me, especially after last year, but also, even after season I go through, you know, the season and try to figure out how I did and from what I remember, it was a lot, a lot of chances I didn’t score either, so it’s, I would never say I’m very satisfied with myself…,” Tarasenko said to the media during his end-of-season interview when asked about hitting the 20 goal mark. 

After looking over his stats and seeing how he improved in almost every crucial area, it’s hard not to give him a decent grade. He earned an A-, which to some may seem high, but he did have nearly 50 points, which put him in eighth place among Wild players in points, and he contributed a lot to the lineup. However, it’s not higher because, like some of his teammates, it seemed like he had even more to give but couldn’t. 

Tarasenko’s Postseason Production 

Tarasenko knows what it takes to win a Stanley Cup; he’s won two over the course of his career- one with the St. Louis Blues in 2019 and the other with the Florida Panthers in 2024- so it hasn’t been long since he won. Although the Wild’s postseason run was rather short, Tarasenko did provide both offense and defense. He played in all 11 playoff games, and he scored two goals plus assisted on three others for five total points. 

Tarasenko upped his physicality in the postseason as he had 14 hits, but his blocked shots didn’t increase as he blocked just seven shots. The Wild could’ve used a bit more offense and definitely more blocked shots from him as the postseason went on. They struggled to score goals, and it could’ve made a difference to have more from players outside their top scorers. 

“I think we just stopped putting the pucks deep enough, and I think took some pressure off them, and, you know, we play against a good team who could feel when they have a right chance to pressure. They, I would say, maybe want it more, and use their opportunities and tie the game and stay on the plan for 60 minutes, which give them success,” said Tarasenko to the media in his end-of-season interview when asked about Game 5. 

His stats weren’t terrible in the postseason, but they also weren’t exceptional, and earned him a B. It’s lower than his regular-season grade because, while he played fewer games and lower stats are to be expected, they were quite a bit lower. It wasn’t lower than a B because he still provided above-average play and deserved to be acknowledged for it, but not enough to earn higher. 

Tarasenko’s Overall Grade

After going through his regular season performance, he earned an A- and in his postseason, he earned a B, and combining those, he earned a B+ for his overall grade for the season. That may seem low for his contributions, but they needed more from him when the playoffs came around, and they didn’t get it. It wasn’t lower because he did find ways to produce, especially during the regular season. 

“You have to want it and this team want it, and they have, I think, the biggest ingredient, like I mentioned, is a tight group of guys. If you don’t have a tight group of guys who all want to play for each other and sacrifice, you know, for each other, then there’s no chance to succeed. This group have it, and we play two good teams in the playoffs, and yeah, we’re out in the second round, but, like as you see during the whole season long, this team can play against every other team in the league and I do think this can happen,” said Tarasenko to the media later in that same end-of-season interview when asked about being on winning teams before and how he feels that the Wild have what it takes. 

Tarasenko did elect to test the free agency market, but when this article was published, he had yet to find a team to settle with. It’ll be interesting to see if he circles back to the Wild or if they decide to move on. He did have a decent season with them, and with the right contract, it could be possible they’d bring him back if he decided to come back as well.