Tanev won’t lean on crutch of cursed year
Canucks defenceman offers ‘no excuses’ for play, but looks forward to fresh start
You can ask Chris Tanev anything. Just don’t ask him about injuries because the battered Vancouver Canucks defenceman considers an admission of any ailment to be a crutch of convenience.
Forget about Tanev revealing three injuries and those he played through that limited the normally durable blue-liner to 53 games this NHL season. He had more than a lingering high-ankle sprain that affected strength and mobility, but Tanev wouldn’t confirm the troika of trouble included back and shoulder injuries.
He also had the mumps and food poisoning.
“It wasn’t how I anticipated this season,” understated Tanev. “I had a few things, but a lot guys play through injuries. Sudsy (Brandon Sutter) played with that wrist and could hardly close his hand, so I don’t really want to get into it. If you’re on the ice, there are no excuses.”
That’s commendable and concerning.
If the Canucks are all in on a real rebuild, they would say thanks to Ryan Miller and save salary cap space by anointing Jacob Markstrom as their starting goaltender. That would allow Richard Bachman — or an unrestricted free-agent veteran on a bridge deal — to be the backup and buy prospect Thatcher Demko another season of development time with the American Hockey League’s Utica Comets.
And if Olli Juolevi is going to be developed here on a crowded back end, a real rebuild would mean maximizing the trade return on Tanev to do what a traditional rebuild means — stockpiling draft picks for a long trek back to the playoffs.
However, that’s not expected to occur.
This rebuild is about allowing youth to learn through trial and error while maintaining some level of competitiveness. That’s why the UFA Miller may see Vancouver as a viable option to remain a starter and why the concept of trading Tanev has always been a non-starter for general manager Jim Benning.
“He makes the people he plays with better and has good mobility,” said Benning. “We really missed him when he was injured.” That’s understandable. At age 27, Tanev is only hitting his prime and his US$4.45 million US cap hit for the next three seasons is a bargain. It’s what attracts widespread interest and why Benning believes the best is yet to come from Tanev and that his injuries are more misfortune than putting himself in vulnerable positions. That’s debatable.
Press Tanev and he’ll tell you it was weirdness away from the rink that drove him nuts. He spent the bye week in a San Diego hotel room because he had mumps symptoms on a Monday night and wasn’t cleared to fly back to Vancouver until Saturday. And there was more.
“The sickness after I got the mumps — the food poisoning or the stomach flu — I lost 12 pounds and I was in the hospital and that was the toughest thing,” recalled Tanev, who averaged 20:21 of playing time this season and managed two goals and eight assists.
“I played two games after the mumps and then I got the flu or whatever and that was the worst.”
In Tanev’s world, that’s worse than getting tied up with the hulking Anze Kopitar Oct. 22 in Los Angeles and playing through an ankle sprain the next night in Anaheim. He was then run into the end boards by big Ducks forward Nick Ritchie and aggravated the injury, which would linger.
Strengthening the ankle is an obvious off-season priority for Tanev, who had a high-ankle sprain a few years ago and tweaked it a few times to allow the ailment to reoccur more easily.
“I’ve been lucky in that I’ve never had a surgery and I’ve usually missed time with a broken bone,” said Tanev. “The next six or seven weeks, I’m going to focus on getting the ankle moving well and getting back to where I can move without pain and be effective and make smooth transitions. After that, I can start to get into heavy lifting.”
Tanev believes there’s more to his game and the hesitation to jump up into the play could have had a lot to do with the tight structure the Canucks deployed to stay in games. And because there will be a new assistant coach to run the back end after Doug Lidster wasn’t retained, look for another dimension in Tanev’s game.
“For me, it’s going to make sure I’m assertive and getting up the ice,” said Tanev. “Sometimes I tend to be too passive and too defensive. I need someone to push me.”
The push to play will never be a problem, injury or no injury.
“A lot of things were bugging him,” said Sutter. “You know when a guy is hurt or something is bothering him and it takes a lot of character to go out there. That’s what true grit is all about.”
OF NOTE — Benning said Florida Panthers GM Dale Tallon called to ask about the coaching strengths of Willie Desjardins. In response to a report, Benning clarified Tallon didn’t ask for permission to speak to Comets coach Travis Green, who’s considered the front-runner to replace Desjardins.