Friedman: Calgary Flames blueliner Chris Tanev is on Ottawa’s radar
By Ryan Pike
5 months agoFolks, we’re about six weeks away from the National Hockey League’s trade deadline. With the Calgary Flames outside of a playoff position and having several pending unrestricted free agents on their roster, they’re going to be getting some attention.
On Saturday’s edition of Headlines on Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman connected Flames defender Chris Tanev with the Ottawa Senators.
For context, recently newly-minted Senators general manager Steve Staios held a media availability and discussed bringing in complete players and “pros” to the hockey club. And when you think of good pros in the current game, a lot of people think about Tanev.
Here’s Friedman:
“Well, there’s one ‘pro’ whose name came across my desk in the last 24 to 48 hours and that’s Chris Tanev of the Calgary Flames. And it makes a lot of sense, a lot of sense. Like when you talk about pros in the NHL, Tanev is one of the top names you’d could come up with. And he makes perfect sense for a guy to be on Ottawa’s radar, and he is. Now I don’t know what the possibility is at this time. I think Chris Tanev would probably prefer a playoff scenario this year. For this year, the Senators are not a playoff team. We’ll see about the future. But I do think he’s one of the names on their radar.”
The 34-year-old Tanev is a right shot defender who’s in the final year of a four-year deal he signed with the Flames back in 2020 with a $4.5 million cap hit. While Tanev has some pretty solid offensive boxcar stats – nine points in 46 games this season – his bread-and-butter are his intangibles. He’s frequently cited by teammates and head coach Ryan Huska as one of the Flames’ most important leaders, and he’s somebody willing to throw caution to the wind in order to help his team win. (He blocked a shot with his face for Pete’s sake!)
If you’re the Flames and you’re hoping to maximize Tanev’s value in terms of futures, the Senators could be an interesting suitor for him. Per CapFriendly, the Senators control six selections in the first four rounds of this year’s entry draft. But a team poised for a playoff run may feel they’re a Chris Tanev away from winning a championship, and while they could be more desperate for his services, most of the potential Cup contenders have already sent out draft capital to get to this point.
Add in Tanev’s 10-team no-trade list, and the situation has some complexities. Needless to say, there will be teams calling Craig Conroy regarding his veteran blueliner, and it will be interesting to see how the first-year GM navigates the process and where Tanev ends up after the March 8 trade deadline.
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