Finally, the much heralded arrival of Blues prospect Vladimir Tarasenko upon the banks of the Mighty Mississippi River was upon us today. Tarasenko, who the Blues drafted in the first round of the 2010 NHL draft, is one of the team's top prospects by far and is nearly a lock to make the team this season (if) when the year starts. He's gritty, he's built like a Tank, which fittingly is his nickname, and he's got some darn good international experience behind him. Captain of the 2011 World Junior champion Russian team, Tank pretty much has shown he's not willing to back down from anything. Hopefully that includes labor disputes and toasty St. Louis summers with mosquitos the size of hockey pucks.

The Blues have posted a video of this afternoon's press conference. It's complete with the hyperbole and excitement that you'd expect. The grandest part is the "eh, I got this" look on his face upon Doug Armstrong's presentation of his jerjsey.

Tank better got this, because the Blues could use a bit of a scoring boost. Who better to get it from than the Russian version of T.J. Oshie? The Blues have two pinballs on skates this season, which should be a blast to watch whenever it starts.