Tarasenko Dispute Raises Tampering Questions as Wild Deny Permission Claims

A report suggesting Vladimir Tarasenko’s new agent has been granted permission to shop the pending unrestricted free agent ahead of the July 1 market has been flatly denied by the Minnesota Wild — and may have opened the door to tampering allegations.

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The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun reported that Dan Milstein, who recently took over as Tarasenko’s representative, had received authorization to speak directly with teams in advance of Wednesday’s free agency opening. LeBrun noted the veteran winger had a solid season with Minnesota despite limited power play opportunities, and characterized him as headed to the open market with early access to suitors.

But The Athletic’s Michael Russo, citing the Wild directly, threw cold water on the claim almost immediately.

According to Russo, Minnesota general manager Bill Guerin said he gave Milstein no such permission — not even a blanket go-ahead, let alone the sweeping clearance to contact every team that Milstein reportedly described. In fact, the NHL has told agents and teams that this kind of negotiation and communications with teams is strictly against the rules.

“Not only does Milstein not have permission from the Wild, the league recently warned all teams they cannot give blanket permission for UFA’s to do this. You can trade rights and then they can talk to that specific team.” When asked by a fan why LeBrun would report it if it wasn’t true, Russo responded, “I’m saying wild say he does not have permission, so if Milstein told LeBrun this, he’s tampering.”

Russo also pointed to a recent league-wide reminder that teams are prohibited from granting that kind of open-ended permission to UFA representatives in the first place. Under NHL rules, a club can trade a pending free agent’s rights, at which point that specific acquiring team may engage with the player. But a blanket license to canvas the entire league? That doesn’t exist.

“Players become free agents at noon July 1. There’s no courting period in the NHL,” Russo stated plainly.

That leaves a pointed question hanging over the situation: if Milstein did tell LeBrun he had permission to speak freely with other clubs, and the Wild say no such permission was granted, the agent may have gotten himself and his client in trouble. Not the greatest start to a relationship, considering Tarasenko just fired his old agent to join up with Milstein.

Tarasenko and his camp have not publicly commented on the dispute.

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