This former Blackhawks rival would be great for Connor Bedard

The Chicago Blackhawks are the luckiest team in the NHL. They have Connor Bedard coming to town. The hope is that he lives up to the potential that hypes him up as one of the greatest prospects who ever lived.

The Hawks have a lot of pressure on them now to get things ready for his arrival. The team needs to be much better around him if he is going to develop into this generational NHL superstar.

The ideal situation for him right now would be to add him a stud goal scorer to play with. The 2023 NHL free agent class isn’t loaded with options so the Hawks might have to be aggressive.

One player that fits that bill is Vladimir Tarasenko. Of course, Hawks fans know him as a big-time rival that spent most of his career up to this point with the St. Louis Blues. Tarasenko was, as you know, traded to the New York Rangers ahead of the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline.

With New York, Tarasenko was pretty good. He was teammates with Patrick Kane there as they went on a short little run to the postseason. They were defeated in the first round by the New Jersey Devils in seven games.

The Chicago Blackhawks would love to put a guy like this with Connor Bedard.

In his early days with the Blues, Tarasenko was one of the best goal-scorers in the National Hockey League. He is still someone who puts the puck in the net with regularity.

St. Louis reached the top of the hockey world with Tarasenko there in 2019 as they won their first Stanley Cup in franchise history.

Here in 2023, he makes perfect sense for this Hawks team. He’d slide right into the top six with Bedard and the two would be great together.

Tarasenko is a gifted scorer so he can take advantage of Bedard’s playmaking. He is also a very good passer so he can find Bedard who has a lethal shot himself.

There is also a lot of toughness that comes with a player like Tarasenko which might be good for Bedard’s sake in his first year.

With the Stanley Cup amongst many other career achievements, a lot of experience comes with a guy like Vladimir Tarasenko.

If Chicago is a place that he’d want to be at this point in his career, the Hawks should consider it. It makes perfect sense in every way. He might even make a tad more money here if it were a shorter deal so it could work out for everyone.