Early-Season Lineup Change for Chris Tanev Yielding Unbelievable Results for the Maple Leafs
Leafs defenseman Chris Tanev began the season on a pairing with Morgan Rielly, but a recent change for Tanev is yielding better results than anyone expected.
The Maple Leafs had long been rumoured to have had a strong interest in Chris Tanev. Those rumours had proven true when the Leafs finally pulled the trigger on a deal to acquire the negotiating rights to the veteran defenseman from the Dallas Stars on day two of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft.
In the days following the trade, the Leafs and Tanev's camp came together to negotiate a new 6-year deal, which was announced just ahead of the start of free agency.
It was always believed that Tanev was brought in with the intention of being Morgan Rielly's D partner, and that's exactly where he started the season. Unfortunately, the pairing did not perform up to the level of expectation that the coaching staff had of them, playing their way to a 7.3 xGA over 127 minutes together at 5-on-5. As a result, the pairing was split up and Tanev was shifted down to play alongside Jake McCabe.
The move has really paid dividends early, and the results are far more impressive than anyone would have expected. Over the last 6 games, the McCabe/Tanev pairing has an xGA of 1.8 across 108 minutes together. If that's not impressive enough, according to The Athletic's Kevin Papetti, Tanev owns the best xGA/60 in the entire NHL over that span. McCabe has the 5th best in the NHL.
Both McCabe and Tanev are shutdown defenders, so it shouldn't come as a huge surprise that they have excelled in a shutdown role. However, to be 1st and 5th in the league in expected goals against per 60 minutes far exceeds what anyone thought possible, establishing themselves as arguably the best shutdown pair in the league over the last two weeks.
The obvious hope is that they can continue to produce similar results together, but even if the success doesn't continue and the Leafs are forced to make additional changes, they have the deepest blueline that they've had in years and have a number of different combinations they can try. However, there's nothing to suggest that these two defensive stalwarts won't be able to maintain this. The Leafs may have struck gold, folks.
