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Brad Treliving got his man.
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Now, he has to sign him.
The Maple Leafs general manager has coveted defenceman Chris Tanev since taking over in Toronto last June, and on Saturday at the National Hockey League draft in Las Vegas, Treliving acquired the rights to the Toronto native.
The Leafs traded forward Max Ellis, who had 14 points in 36 games this season with the Toronto Marlies, and their seventh-round pick in 2025 to the Dallas Stars to get Tanev’s rights.
“We talked since the end of the year about trying to help ourselves on defence,” Treliving told reporters in Las Vegas. “As we got closer and it looked like potentially he’s not going to be signing in Dallas, we wanted to jump the queue here as best we could and get to him before free agency started. So that’s what we’re going to do.
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“I know the player well, we’ll get to work on it now, at least excited to have an opportunity to speak directly with him and see if we can put something together.”
The Leafs and Tanev will work at getting a contract done before NHL free agency opens on Monday at noon. Talks between Treliving and Tanev’s agent, Wade Arnott, will start in earnest.
Speculation remains that Treliving would like to add Nikita Zadorov on the blue line as well.
Treliving tried to get Tanev, 34, in a trade with the Calgary Flames this past season before the Flames dealt him to the Stars at the end of February.
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Tanev is finishing a four-year contract with an average annual value of $4.5 million US, signed in October 2020 with Calgary when Treliving was the Flames GM.
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The thinking has been that the right-shooting Tanev will have a similar AAV on his next contract, though it could be lower if Tanev signs a longer-term deal.
When the Stars acquired Tanev a few months ago, Dallas GM Jim Nill had this to say about his new defenceman: “First of all, high character. He’s a warrior, he plays the game the right way, plays hard, good size (6-foot-2, 196 pounds). You can match him up against other team’s best players, very good in the penalty-killing. Just high-end character, high-quality player and person.”
Where Tanev slots on the Leafs’ depth chart remains to be seen, but it’s probable that he will get a look with Morgan Rielly.
In 75 games last season, Tanev had two goals and 17 assists and was plus-22. He also had 24 penalty minutes.
In 792 games in the NHL, Tanev has averaged 19 minutes 59 seconds of ice time a game. Last season, he was between 19 and 20 minutes with both the Flames and the Stars.
At the end of the Stars’ playoff run this spring, it was reported that Tanev was recovering from a tendon injury suffered in the Western Conference final.
More to come.
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