Toronto Maple Leafs: Does Adding Chris Tanev Make Sense?

Chris Tanev has been constantly named in rumours around being dealt to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

This past season in 42 games, he registered 2 goals, 9 assists, 19:47 ATOI, 47.3 CF%, 21 hits, 70 blocks and 15 takeaways.  He would certainly be an upgrade on anyone the Leafs have on the right side currently.

While those aren’t terrible numbers, I do have some concerns around Tanev.

Since his first season in the NHL in 2010-11, the 28 year old, Toronto native has never played a full season. In fact, he’s only played in more than 65 games twice in his eight year career.

If I’m Kyle Dubas, I’m looking to acquire a right handed defenseman who will be playing in the lineup for around 80% of games. With Tanev’s track record, it’s hard for me to say that Tanev won’t get hurt at some point and miss games.

The other concern that I have with Tanev is he willingness to block shots when necessary. It appears that after suffering so many injuries that the one Iron Man defenseman has become fearful of the puck. As you can see in the tweet below, over the course of the past few seasons, his blocks per game have decreased significantly. Last season, he registered 1.66 blocks per game. While in his 2015-16 campaign, he registered 2.4 blocks per game.

Don’t Mind Taking The Risk

That being said, if Dubas is intent on acquiring Tanev, I wouldn’t mind the acquisition. I’m a risk-taker. Worst case if adding Tanev doesn’t pay dividends then we look somewhere else for a right handed defenseman.

I would be more concerned about the return. If Jim Benning, the general manager of the Vancouver Canucks believes that he can land Timothy Liljegren or Rasmus Sandin in a trade for Tanev, he needs to think again. Liljegren and Sandin both have a tremendous amount of upside and could be top 4 defenseman in the NHL for many years to come.

With Tanev, you know what you are acquiring. He’s not going to shock you and put up monstrous offensive numbers. He’s a solid two-way defenseman and can be pivotal on a team’s penalty kill. When he is in the lineup, he could be an excellent pairing with Jake Gardiner or Morgan Rielly.

Plus, if you enlarge the photos from the tweet below, you’d see that Tanev is a better all around defenseman than Ron Hainsey and Nikita Zaitsev. By using Ryan Stimson’s Player Traits and Performance Comparison Tool, we can see that Tanev’s shot suppression per 60 relative to this teammates blows both Hainsey and Zaitsev off the charts. It’s the same situation with many other variables listed on the chart.

If Dubas can come to terms with Benning on a decent trade for Tanev, I’d be happy. Sure, Tanev won’t give you 82 games of solid defense. Let’s face it, he’s going to get hurt. Yet, the defensive skill-set that Tanev brings to the table is unmatched by some of the other RHD options on the Toronto Maple Leafs roster.

Next: Grading Each Team's Off Season

stats from Ryan Stimson’s Player Traits and Performance Comparison Tool, NHL.com and hockey-reference.com