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Which St. Louis Blues Players are Most Likely to Thrive in the World Cup of Hockey?

By Patrick Karraker

Sep 5, 2016; Ottawa, ON, Canada; Canada player Alex Pietrangelo during practice for the World Cup of Hockey at Canadian Tire Centre. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 5, 2016; Ottawa, ON, Canada; Canada player Alex Pietrangelo during practice for the World Cup of Hockey at Canadian Tire Centre. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports /
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Vladimir Tarasenko St. Louis Blues
Billy Hurst-USA TODAY Sports /

Vladimir Tarasenko, Team Russia

Russia doesn’t have a ton of elite defensive talent, and their goaltenders–Seymon Varlamov, Sergei Bobrovsky, and Andrei Vasilevskiy–don’t match up to those found on Team Canada, Team USA, or maybe even Team North America. With that said, you can’t teach natural scoring ability, and Team Russia has a ton of it with Vladimir Tarasenko, Evgeni Malkin, Alex Ovechkin, and Artemi Panarin–arguably four of the top six sharp shooters in the entire world. He’s going to have to share the scoring chances more than he does with the Blues, but Tarasenko absolutely has an opportunity to shine in this tournament.

While the unfortunate reality of the situation is that the World Cup is only going to put more miles on Tarasenko’s legs that could end up hampering him down the stretch–an issue that definitely appeared to be prevalent during the 2016 postseason–it will be a nice sight for Blues fans if Tarasenko can come out of the gates firing and make a real impact for Team Russia, rather than remaining in the same slump that he ended the 2016 season in.

Next: Alex Pietrangelo, Jay Bouwmeester

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