Vladdy Tarasenko has been on my radar ever since him and the Russians broke my heart at the 2011 WJHC. Tarasenko was the captain and scored the game tying goal in the third period after Canada has been up 3-0 after 2 periods. He would then set up the Breadman Artemi Panarin for the game winner 8 minutes later and Canada would have to settle for silver.
It would be a couple years before he would make his mark in the NHL but there is no doubt Tarasenko is a star and he is two goals away from 3 consecutive 30 goal seasons. During his rookie year he started to show signs of brilliance so I tracked down two of his rookie cards including this one here. Looking back I am not willing to say just yet he is the best of the Dual Rookie Class but he certainly is one of the best that includes Nathan MacKinnon, Nikita Kucherov and Alex Galchenyuk just to name a few.
13-14 Upper Deck Vladimir Tarasenko Young Gun
Despite the larger print run than many rookies, Young Guns always are a fan favourite and as far as designs go, the 13-14 Young Guns design is one of my favourites of the past decade. Time will tell how the 13-14 class will fare but with players like Nail Yakupov and Valeri Nichushkin not panning out as expected and MacKinnon stuck doing it all by himself in Colorado the true star of the class might be a few years away from being decided. Players like Barkov and Huberdeau when healthy have begun to show great promise as well. What are your thoughts on the 13-14 rookie class? Has one player emerged as the tops of the group yet?
Love this pick-up Dave! I'm with you, I think Tarasenko is almost criminally under-rated as far as the hobby goes at this point. In fact, I made a point to pick up a copy of this very card just last month since you can still find them occasionally for under $20. I think Tarasenko is going to be a scoring force in the league for years to come. Like you said, things can still change but at this point anyway I'd say he's the top guy from that dual rookie class.
ReplyDeleteThanks Shane! Yeah it's amazing how players of certain countries or clubs don't get the same love they do if they had been on a team like Pitt or Toronto. Better for us in some ways however!
DeleteHe's definitely under-rated, but most of the top-tier European players (not named Ovechkin) are. The supply outweighs the demand so much. Most collectors are North American and focus on the North American players.
ReplyDeleteI was able to pick up Panarin Young Guns a few months ago for less than $7. Seriously. I could get like 20 of them for the price of one McDavid. Sometimes prices are really out of whack. I'm a very analytical person and it just makes no sense to me.
-kin
ifeellikeacollectoragain.blogspot.com
Thanks so much for the comment. It's truly a game of supply and demand and in the NA market we seem to demand Russians less despite the skill level some of these players possess.
DeleteAdded you to the blog roll!