Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Blues want Tarasenko to get in shape

Vladimir Tarasenko

St. Louis Blues’ Vladimir Tarasenko, of Russia, skates during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday, April 16, 2013, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

AP

Apparently Dustin Byfuglien isn’t the only player having his fitness questioned today.

Jeremy Rutherford of the the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports the Blues are unhappy with the shape Vladimir Tarasenko is in and they want him to start putting in some work.

“We’ve given him a clear mandate on what we expect when he gets back here, what we’re going to see from him on a conditioning level, the grind that he’s going to have to do,” Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said recently.

Tarasenko dealt with a concussion this past season, one that knocked him out of action for about a month. When he returned, his play wasn’t the same scintillating style it was before his injury and he wound up being a healthy scratch late in the season and in the playoffs.

The Blues say Tarasenko is in an important spot for them, however, and cracking the whip on him to get in shape is part of that urgency. Now if he can just do a few sit-ups and lay off the St. Louis barbecue, they’d be happier.