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Examining Daily Faceoff’s potential landing spots for Chris Tanev

Originally posted on Flamesnation | By Brennan Delaney | Last updated 1/31/24

There may be no better right-shot defenceman on the market than Chris Tanev.

On Monday, Frank Seravalli released an article for Daily Faceoff looking at potential landing spots for the Calgary Flames’ pending unrestricted free agent.

A brief rundown on Tanev and his numbers. The 34-year-old doesn’t put up much in the way of points, scoring just a single goal and nine points in 46 games this season, but defence is his specialty.

For starters, he plays a ton against elite competition, as he’s played 309.2 minutes against what Woodmoney considers elite players. On top of that, the Flames outscore elite competition with him on the ice, as they have 16 goals for and just seven goals against when Tanev is on the ice.

As a whole, Tanev has a 50.82% goal share and a 51.07% expect goal share in 748:07 minutes played during five-on-five action. Tanev also leads the Flames in penalty kill minutes with 122:13, nearly six minutes more than Elias Lindholm, and just about 11 more minutes than the next defenceman.

Diving into Seravalli’s article now, he lists seven potential landing spots for Tanev. The most interesting of which is the Vancouver Canucks, who are the only team in the Pacific Division listed. It helps that Tanev has played with the Canucks from 2010-20. The Dallas Stars are the only other Western Conference team listed as potential suitors.

The rest of the five teams are Eastern Conference teams, and they are: the Toronto Maple Leafs, Tampa Bay Lightning, Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Islanders, and the Florida Panthers.

Realistically, the Leafs are the best fit for Tanev as their defence is a weak spot this season. Not to mention they’ve been interested in Tanev since the beginning of the season. Pittsburgh is probably the team with the worst fit, as they already have Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson on the right-side and should aim for an upgrade on the left side of their defence.

Chris Tanev blocked this shot with his face pic.twitter.com/y7IR2FDOxV

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) November 28, 2023

Seravalli’s article also lists comparable returns in years previous. Ironically, all three of the trades involve former Flame players, with the first being a Mark Giordano trade that saw the Leafs package a 2022 second-round pick, a 2023 second-round pick, and a 2024 third-round pick for the former captain with 50% retention. The Leafs also received Colin Blackwell.

Another comparable trade features Brett Kulak heading to the Edmonton Oilers for 50% retention. In return, the Montréal Canadiens received a 2022 second-round pick that turned out to be Lane Hutson, as well as 2024 seventh-round pick and William Lagesson.

The last trade was one made by the Flames, and the only trade that could have been a first-rounder. The Flames sent Kris Russell to Dallas for a 2016 second-rounder, along with Jyrki Jokipakka and Brett Pollock, neither of whom play in the National Hockey League or North America, for that matter.

Another comparable trade is when the Canadiens sent Ben Chiarot to the Florida Panthers at 50% retention in exchange for a conditional first-round pick that ended up being used the following season when the Panthers made it to the Stanley Cup final. The Canadiens also received a 2022 fourth-round pick.

With over 10 teams interested in Tanev according to Rick Dhaliwal, the Flames may get closer to what Chiarot got as the price of bidding may make teams desperate.