The Maple Leafs got the kind of camp update every team wants to hear, and it centered on Chris Tanev. John Chayka said the veteran defenseman is fully cleared, healthy, and ready to go as Toronto opened training camp on Wednesday.
Chayka didn’t leave much room for doubt about where Tanev stands physically.
“I feel really confident that his injuries are in a good place. He is as healthy as anybody and is obviously a big part of the team.”
That is a major development for a player whose availability was a real question mark after last season. Tanev, 36, played just 11 games for Toronto, with injuries knocking him out of the lineup for long stretches. He finished that brief run with two assists, a plus-8 rating, and 15 blocked shots, but an early-season concussion and a core muscle injury sent him to the press box for 2025-26.
He is on a $4.5M annual deal that runs through 2030, when he will be 40.
Chayka also made it clear the Maple Leafs felt Tanev’s absence last year.
“I think they missed him a lot last season. He is an important piece for any team that is serious about trying to be successful, and we are lucky to have him on our team.”
Now that Tanev is back in the mix, Toronto’s blue line suddenly looks a lot more complicated - in a good way. If Jim Hiller sticks with the familiar pairing, Tanev could slide right back alongside Jake McCabe. But there’s also a case for using him as the stabilizing force next to Morgan Rielly.
That setup would leave McCabe up top with Darren Raddysh, giving Toronto one pairing built around shutdown work and another that can handle more offensive responsibility. It would also free Rielly to lean into the attack, with Tanev behind him as the steady cover man who can clean up mistakes and keep things calm.
In that arrangement, the Leafs would be looking at:
McCabe - Raddysh
Rielly - Tanev
It’s a cleaner, more balanced look on paper, and it gives Toronto a veteran presence back where it matters most.
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