Russian starlet tarasenko to join St Louis

Russian hockey starlet Vladimir Tarasenko has opted to join the St. Louis Blues in the NHL rather than accept an improved contract offer from his KHL team SKA St. Petersburg, his agent said Saturday. The 20-year-old KHL All-Star scored 33 goals and grabbed 30 assists in 69 games this season, split between SKA and his native team Sibir Novosibirsk. "Vladimir Tarasenko is moving to the NHL," the player's agent Alexei Dementiev wrote on his Twitter page. SKA general manager Alexei Kasatonov told R-Sport earlier Saturday that SKA had offered a two-year deal and that Tarasenko "is still thinking." Tarasenko, the 16th draft pick for St. Louis in 2010, earned a move to the St. Petersburg team in January with a standout 2011 at Sibir. The forward scored just one goal for the Russian national team at the Euro Hockey Tour in April, failing to make the cut for the world championships last month that Russia won.