After being traded from the Calgary Flames to the Dallas Stars this season, Tanev found himself in the thick of a lengthy playoff run to the Western Conference Finals. Unfortunately, they ran into a red hot Edmonton Oilers team, effectively ending Tanev's season and perhaps his tenure in Dallas.
Tanev, a pending UFA, has earned the right to test the open market on July 1st and while he's on the wrong side of 30, he's still drawing a lot of interest around the league, including in Toronto. The problem is that he is believed to be looking for a 4-year term. At 34 years old, and turning 35 in December, that term could be a problem.
The Leafs have been in the habit of signing players to shorter-term deals for a number of seasons now. It's nice to have that added flexibility and for the team to be able to avoid bad long-term contracts, but in this case, if they want the player bad enough, they may be forced to either offer up the term he's looking for or simply walk away and seek help on the blueline elsewhere.
Tanev produced 2 goals and 19 points over 75 games last season, split between Calgary and Dallas. Obviously, if the Leafs were to pull the trigger on a deal for Tanev, they wouldn't be acquiring him for his production level, but rather the intangibles he can bring that don't necessarily always show up on the stat sheets and/or scoreboard.
