Ed Mulholland, USA TODAY Sports

The St. Louis Blues (9-3-1) are the hottest team in the NHL and their leading scorer Vladimir Tarasenko is the NHL’s hottest player.

Those facts are undeniably intertwined.  The Blues are home tonight (8 p.m. ET) hoping to take down the Nashville Predators for their eighth consecutive win. During their seven-game winning streak, Tarasenko has eight goals, three assists and a minimum of two memorable highlight videos.

The goal he scored recently against the New York Rangers, where he split the defense and tucked in a one-handed shot Peter Forsberg-style, could end up being the goal of the season.

Tarasenko, 22, has five multiple-point games already this season, and that has helped him climb into fourth place (16 points) in the NHL scoring race. He is averaging better than four shots per game, roughly twice as many as he averaged last season.

Before coming to the NHL, Tarasenko played six seasons in the Russia-based Kontinental Hockey League, starting at age 16.

As you watch Tarasenko sift through defenders on a regular basis, it’s hard to believe he was only the 16^th pick in the 2010. That was a quality draft year, and most teams would are content with the players they picked ahead of Tarasenko.

In fairness to the teams that passed on Tarasenko, there was considerable concern about when or if Tarasenko would come to the NHL. Still today, there are concerns about picking Russians because of the lure of the KHL. But there are some fan bases that would love a do-over of that draft.

Here are some teams that should have grabbed Tarasenko before St. Louis got him:

*Atlanta Thrashers (now Winnipeg Jets) drafted forward Alexander Burmistrov 8th. He is now playing in the KHL.

*New York Rangers took 6-5 defenseman Dylan McIlrath at 10.  Primarily an AHL player, McIlrath has played three games for the Rangers.

*Dallas Stars took goalie Jack Campbell with the 11^th pick. Campbell could still end up being a difference-maker, but imagine Tarasenko playing with the players Dallas boasts up front.

*Phoenix Coyotes claimed defenseman Brandon Gormley. Again, Gormley has potential. But the Coyotes’ biggest need right now is a dynamic scorer.

*Los Angeles Kings took defenseman Derek Forbort with the 15^th pick. He has not made it to the show yet. Imagine Marian Gaborik, Anze Kopitar and Tarasenko playing together. But it’s not like you can knock the Kings’ record for player procurement, not with two Stanley Cup championships in the past three seasons.

Also Saturday: Center Derek Stepan is expected to return to New York Rangers’ lineup in their road game at Toronto. … The Penguins are in Buffalo in search of their seventh consecutive win. The Sabres are the NHL’s worst team at 3-10-2.

Your games tonight

Calgary at Florida, 3
Pittsburgh at Buffalo, 7
New York Rangers at Toronto, 7
Minnesota at Montreal, 7
Winnipeg at Ottawa, 7
Colorado at Philadelphia, 7
Tampa Bay at Columbus, 7
Carolina at Washington , 8
Nashville at St. Louis, 8
San Jose at Dallas, 8
New York Islanders at Arizona, 8
Vancouver at Los Angeles, 10