SvoNotes: Tarasov making most of opportunity at NHL level

In a perfect world -- and we know the Blue Jackets are not in one of those right now -- Daniil Tarasov would be racking up starts with the Cleveland Monsters.
That would mean both Elvis Merzlikins and Joonas Korpisalo would be healthy and playing well for the Blue Jackets, and it might also be the best thing for Tarasov's career.

The Russian with impressive size and talent came into this season with just 21 pro games in North America under his belt, so the ideal plan coming in was he'd be the No. 1 with Cleveland, get more experience and be ready for a potential role with the Blue Jackets next season.
Of course, we all know how that has worked out. Both Merzlikins and Korpisalo are currently out of the lineup, and the Blue Jackets are now in a totally different world with their goalies.
Tarasov made his fourth straight start last night in Philadelphia, while his backup was Jet Greaves, who has yet to make an NHL appearance. Merzlikins did not make the trip to the City of Brotherly Love as he battles illness, while Korpisalo remains on injured reserve after suffering a recent lower-body injury.

On the whole, the numbers for Tarasov include 10 games played with the Blue Jackets over three stints with the big club, plus four more games with Cleveland in two different times with the minor league squad.
It's maybe not ideal for development, but one would have a hard time arguing with Tarasov's performances with the Blue Jackets. He has posted a 3.03 GAA and .915 save percentage and frankly has probably had the best season of any CBJ goalie, and his .926 save percentage in his last seven appearances shows he's probably ready for the NHL level.
But the reality also is the best level for Tarasov right now is any one at which he's playing.
"It's really interesting," he said. "For me now, it's much better when I play because I missed half of a year."
Oh yes, then there's that. Tarasov was in net on New Year's Day this past season and turning in a solid performance against Carolina when he suffered an injury that forced him to leave the net after two periods. It turned out he needed hip surgery that would end his season.
That's one reason his career North American appearances are so low, but the Blue Jackets have been high on the Novokuznetsk, Russia, native for a long time. He was taken in the third round of the 2017 draft -- probably lower than he would have been taken had he not suffered a knee injury the year prior -- and has developed in Finland's Liiga and Russia's KHL before coming to North America late in the 2021 season.
His combination of size, athleticism and calmness in net has led the Jackets to believe he can be a No. 1 in the NHL, and he's done little to dissuade anyone of that notion since he's arrived in Ohio.
Perhaps most impressive is the way he's been able to transition to the North American game given his paucity of action. The European style is much more about puck possession and passing, whereas the smaller rink and faster speeds here encourage crease chaos. Yet Tarasov has been able to adjust to that relatively quickly.
"I think every time I see him in there, he does look more comfortable," head coach Brad Larsen said. "One of the biggest changes when they come over is the traffic because those pucks are getting on you quickly. The more game action he gets, the more comfortable he seems to get in it."
There's also the reality that any player would rather be learning his craft at the NHL level rather than in the minors, and you can see Tarasov becoming more solid in his positioning and more trusting in his game as each contest goes by.
"Every game I'm feeling better," he said. "I'm learning a lot of lessons every game. It's big for my development for the future. I'm trying to put it more like in my head, what happens in the game, how I can react for different situations on the ice."
Perhaps the most impressive thing to this point is how Tarasov is able to make a chaotic game look calm. It might be the toughest thing for any goalie at the NHL level to learn, but his size and ability to keep himself from chasing the game has allowed him to make saves that might get past other goalies.
"It's a lot of young players," he said when asked about the speed of the game. "They have the speed and they keep it all game, so you need to be ready for it. Be patient and be focused all 60 minutes. You just try to focus on the game. You don't really think about who you are playing against, you're just trying to do your job."

We Are Young

No one could have predicted this.
Also, no one likes this.
But it is what it is.
In each of the last two games, with so many players on the injured list -- 11 were missing from the Jackets' game Tuesday night in Philadelphia -- Columbus fielded a lineup in which nine of the 18 skaters and the starting goalie all had less than 100 games of NHL experience under their belt.
In fact, seven of the skaters and that starting goalie -- Tarasov, as you probably gathered -- were at less than 50 games played in the NHL. It was particularly noticeable in the back end, where three blueliners - Jake Christiansen (25 games played now), Marcus Bjork (19) and Tim Berni (nine) - were all learning their way at the NHL level, while Tarasov was in the same boat.
No one likes excuses. We get at it's a results business. But let's also be honest -- when you're playing teams like Tampa Bay and Boston that have been together for what feels like a decade, it's going to be hard to compete when you're fielding such a young roster.
It's not how Larsen and general manager Jarmo Kekalainen drew it up, but it is reality.
"We're a young team coming in trying to find traction, and it's been one of those years," Larsen said recently. "We have three guys that are out for the year within the first 15 games. Key guys. … So those things, you can't predict. You hope it doesn't happen. When I'm going through the lineup the last several games and I'm looking at the IR list (for opponents), it's one guy, it's two guys. That's part of the luck of this thing. You would like to see your group together, but that's not the world we live in."
There are pluses and minuses, as no one could have expected the young CBJ players to have gained so much experience in critical situations. Moments like rookies Kent Johnson and Kirill Marchenko scoring a few minutes apart in Philadelphia are exciting because one can imagine a world where that's a common occurrence down the road. At the same time, as much as this experience will serve those players well, it's not a lot of fun for anyone involved to deal with situations like the current five-game losing streak.
While Larsen prefers to focus on the task at hand, he has acknowledged how tough it is to try to navigate an unforgiving league in this situation. Youth and inexperience go hand in hand with inconsistency, and learning consistency is probably the biggest thing that separates the best players in the world.
The good news is there is likely a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, even if it might take some time. Similarly young teams in places like New Jersey and Detroit dealt with a fair share of losing the past few years and have come out the other side better for it, but one must remember those rebuilds took a little longer than those teams had hoped.
But it's important to remember they have started to enjoy the fruits of their labor. The lessons are no fun to learn, the lumps no fun to take, but in a league as competitive as the NHL, you likely also can't get to the good without going through the bad.
"The young guys are playing really well," defenseman Erik Gudbranson said. "Some of them are finding their games and getting some real confidence now. It's fun to watch and it's fun to be a part of. It's frustrating that we're not getting the results, but it's not like there's not growth there. It's not like there's not good things happening in a lot of different areas."

Back To School

To dip a bit into a personal story, my first time in the media covering hockey came at the college level. I started doing student radio for Ohio State hockey during the 2003-04 season, then reported on the team for the student newspaper, and eventually spent seven seasons as the beat writer for the Buckeyes for Buckeye Sports Bulletin.
Once I left Columbus for a job at the Toledo Blade, I picked up a freelancing gig at USCHO.com, the premier website devoted to college hockey coverage, and was lucky enough to report on games at places like Bowling Green and Michigan while also covering Big Ten and NCAA tournaments.
So I have a soft spot in my heart for the sport at that level, and it's cool to me the Blue Jackets' current roster has 10 college hockey alums in Johnny Gaudreau (Boston College), Kent Johnson (Michigan), Jack Roslovic (Miami), Gus Nyquist (Maine), Eric Robinson (Princeton), Sean Kuraly (Miami), Josh Dunne (Clarkson), Carson Meyer (Ohio State), Andrew Peeke (Notre Dame) and Gavin Bayreuther (St. Lawrence). Add in the injured Nick Blankenburg (Michigan) and Justin Danforth (Sacred Heart) and there is plenty of school spirit in the CBJ room.
Which is also why it was a fun experience Friday when the Blue Jackets went back to school for a practice at Boston University's Agganis Arena. Boston's TD Garden was booked for a Celtics game that night, and Agganis Arena was a willing host to the Jackets just a short (for Boston) 20-minute ride up Commonwealth Avenue.

BU has one of the top programs in college hockey, boasting five national titles, and Boston might just be the hub of college hockey. Massachusetts is home to the most D-I programs with 11, and four of them (BU, BC, Harvard and Northeastern) are located in Boston and battle for the prestigious Beanpot bragging rights each year.
Gaudreau took part in his fair share of those battles, having spent three years at Boston College, where he won a national title and the Hobey Baker.
"Obviously it's a big college town," Gaudreau said after practice. "There's a ton of schools all over the area, a lot of Division I schools as well, so then there's the Beanpot. Just a fun hockey city."
Gaudreau's Eagles went 3-0 in Agganis Arena against their BU rivals during his career -- "I remember coming out of this building a few times with some happy faces," he said -- but he couldn't help but wonder why he had to revisit the rink with the Jackets in town.
"We don't have any BU guys on our team, so I don't know why we weren't at BC," he joked. "I'll have to give someone a hard time with the scheduling."