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Big money: Tarasenko signs eight-year, $60 million extension with Blues

St. Louis Blues v Minnesota Wild - Game Six

Vladimir Tarasenko

NHLI via Getty Images

The St. Louis Blues have signed forward Vladimir Tarasenko to an eight-year, $60 million contract.

With a cap hit of $7.5 million, the deal makes Tarasenko the highest-paid player on the Blues.

One of the league’s top young stars, the 23-year-old had 37 goals in 2014-15, fewer than only four others in the NHL. He added six more goals in six playoff games.

The Blues drafted Tarasenko 16th overall in 2010.

As far as recent comparables go, it’s not easy to come up with many, given Tarasenko was a restricted free agent coming off his entry-level deal. Brandon Saad just signed a six-year, $36 million deal with Columbus, but his production pales next to Tarasenko’s.

Elite scoring wingers-wise, Phil Kessel is on an eight-year deal with an $8 million cap hit (shared now by both the Leafs and Penguins), while Corey Perry is also on an eight-year deal, with an $8.625 million cap hit.

Kessel, 27, and Perry, 30, each have a longer track record, but Tarasenko is considerably younger. And, of course, Kessel and Perry signed those deals as pending unrestricted free agents, which gave them more leverage in negotiations.