The Toronto Maple Leafs just lost a key piece. Defenseman Chris Tanev went down with an injury during Saturday night's game against the Colorado Avalanche and according to multiple reports, the team has placed him on Injured Reserve and have already called up a replacement defenseman from the Marlies.
It's a massive loss. Tanev is the player that a lot of the team depends on to be there to shut everything down in the Leafs' own zone. He has built a reputation throughout his 17-year NHL career as one of the premier defensive defensemen and has lived up to that even as he gets older and starts to reach the end of his career.
Now, the Leafs are staring down the barrel of the possibility of missing him for a significant amount of time. Just last season, Tanev was only able to appear in 11 total games. Now, could it be a similar situation?
Regardless, the Leafs recognize how major this is.
Auston Matthews knows how big a loss Chris Tanev is for the Leafs
The Maple Leafs are still on their southwest road trip and are now preparing to face the Utah Mammoth on Tuesday without Tanev.
“It’s always tough,” said captain Auston Matthews via TSN. “I mean, he’s a ‘heart-and-soul’ guy. He plays a big role in our back end, shutdown guy, so you’re hoping it’s nothing serious and that he’ll be alright. But we’ll see. Obviously it’s a tough loss.”
Tanev got hurt during an awkward play in the first period in Colorado on Saturday and the Leafs described his absence as an upper-body injury. It makes you wonder what the diagnosis could possibly be, but it didn't look like he suffered something major -- so now it makes us wonder if it's possibly more serious.
Tanev seems to get hurt on this play in the first period pic.twitter.com/eNx8goax4y
— Maple Leafs Hotstove (@LeafsNews) October 11, 2026
It's not a non-contact injury as he was tangled up with Avalanche winger Artturi Lehkonen at the netfront, but it looks more awkward than anything.
Everyone is just hoping that it's nothing too bad and Tanev can have a speedy recovery.
“I didn’t really see what happened or I don’t really know to what extent it is, but obviously Tanev’s kind of been the anchor of the back end for those first couple games,” said defenseman Nick Blankenburg via TSN. “Yeah, it sucks seeing a guy go down the tunnel, whoever it is, but hopefully it’s not too serious and kind of go from there.”
Maple Leafs get their replacement, for now
The Leafs have not made it official but according to multiple reports, they are calling up blueliner Marshall Rifai from the Toronto Marlies. The 28-year-old is certainly not seen as a long-term solution, and he might not even play since the team technically has six healthy defensemen already with the addition of Blankenburg,
But could another move be coming?
Darren Raddysh, Troy Stecher, and Blankenburg as the right side of a blue line doesn't scream automatic playoff contention -- neither does a left side of Jake McCabe, Morgan Rielly, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, to be fair -- so general manager John Chayka could have another move coming.
Whether it is a short-term fix, to get someone to be in the middle pairings, or it's more of a long-term play to get a younger blueliner with potential, is still to be determined, but they are most likely on the hunt for some help back there.
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