Well, the drama seems to have come to an end - after days of hearing that Tarasenko was talking to SKA in Russia, this tweet from Alessandro Seren Rosso suddenly appeared this morning:

As per agent @i_de_al Tarasenko is going to sign with #stlblues.

Of course, that's not really confirmation - so breath was held...twitter was searched and scoured until finally, a few moments ago, the ever reliable Jeremy Rutherford, tweeted:

GM Doug Armstrong confirms that Vladimir Tarasenko has agreed to a contract in principal with the #stlblues. He will sign it on July 1.

I take it league rules mean he can't officially sign prior to 1 July? Or if not NHL rules then maybe the KHL rules. Never mind...Tarasenko will be playing for the Blues next season.

I, for one, am highly excited about this!!

EDIT: Dmitry Chesnokov on twitter has tweeted: Tarasenko is giving up a lot to join the Blues. Only his KHL "bonus" equaled NHL's entry level contract; + salary, + low tax rate

And JR has said: Armstrong on Tarsenko agreement: "We’re excited to have a player of his caliber come to our team at this age."... More coming in blog soon