Vancouver’s battered back end has suffered another blow as Chris Tanev left Friday’s game with an injury. Speaking with reporters, including Postmedia’s Patrick Johnston postgame, head coach Travis Green indicated that Tanev is likely to miss the rest of the season with a broken bone in his foot.
The veteran has had issues staying healthy in recent years. In fact, this was just his second game back in the Canucks lineup after missing a month with an ankle issue. In fact, he has only played 70 games in his career just once. That certainly hasn’t helped his trade value. Over the years, there has been speculation that Vancouver has been open to moving him at various time but his inability to stay healthy has certainly made it more challenging to deal him. As Tanev will be entering the final year of his contract next season (with a $4.45MM cap hit), questions about his potential availability will certainly resume this summer.
Earlier this week, GM Jim Benning stated that he’s hoping to add one more college defender in the coming weeks despite already signing Quinn Hughes (also currently injured) and Josh Teves. With another spot in the lineup now freed up, it will be interesting to see if a chance to potentially suit up right away will help entice another NCAA player to put pen to paper on a deal with Vancouver in the days and weeks to come.
He’s Sami Salo without the offence