Chris Tanev reveals who he'd prefer to partner with in Toronto

When the Leafs pulled off a trade to acquire Tanev's rights from the Dallas Stars on Day 2 of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, the writing was already on the wall that a deal would get done, landing Tanev with the Maple Leafs on a multi-year deal.

The actual contract itself took multiple days to announce, but now that Tanev is a Leaf for the next 6 seasons at $4.5M per year, the next question is, who will he play with?

Right from the start, the prevailing thought was that he would partner with Morgan Rielly on the Leafs' top pair. However, there has been some speculation that he may even form a legitimate shutdown pair with Jake McCabe. While we don't yet know where the coaching staff will land on this, we do know where Tanev would prefer to play, thanks to his recent interview with Scott Laughlin and Gord Stellick on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio.

Tanev did mention that he has not yet received confirmation from the coaching staff and he did allude to the fact that the Leafs have a number of solid defensemen that he'd be thrilled to play next to, but given his comments about Morgan Rielly, it appears as though he's the guy Tanev wants to slot in next to.

Source for Tanev's contract details: NHL.com
Tanev signs 6-year, $27 million contract with Maple Leafs