Chris Tanev played just 11 games for the Toronto Maple Leafs last season, and his health now sits at the center of their entire blue line plan.
This offseason has reshaped Toronto's roster, but the biggest swing factor for 2026-27 isn't a new face. It's an old one getting healthy again.
The Maple Leafs finished 32-36-14 last season, good for 78 points and a minus-46 goal differential, ranked 28th overall in the league.
Toronto brought in Darren Raddysh from the Tampa Bay Lightning and added Emil Andrae from the Philadelphia Flyers to reinforce the left side of the blue line.
Raddysh put up 70 points last season, 22 goals and 48 assists, with a plus-21 rating. That's a real jump for a right-shot defenseman who can run a power play unit.
Andrae, still just 24, chipped in 13 points and a plus-15 rating in 61 games. Depth pieces like that matter when a top-four spot opens up.
Can a 36-year-old defenseman who played 11 games really be the swing piece for a team that finished 28th in the league? Toronto is betting yes.
Jim Hiller inherits a blue line still hunting for consistency
Tanev's own numbers from last season were thin. Two points and a plus-8 rating over those 11 games, hardly enough to draw conclusions either way.
New head coach Jim Hiller takes over a group that closed the year on a seven-game losing streak, going 2-7-1 over its final ten games.
Jake McCabe and Oliver Ekman-Larsson return to round out the top four. McCabe posted 25 points last season, and Ekman-Larsson added 39 points and 31 assists.
Morgan Rielly is still on the roster too, and his name keeps surfacing in trade chatter. He put up 36 points but finished at minus-18.
Betting a full season on Tanev staying upright is a shaky plan, no matter how much calm he brings to the room. Health isn't a strategy.
Sergei Bobrovsky and Anthony Stolarz will need every bit of help they can get in net. Bobrovsky posted an .876 save percentage last season, Stolarz finished at .893.
Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares and Matthew Knies still carry the offense. Nylander led the group with 79 points and 30 goals.
None of that matters if the defense in front of Bobrovsky collapses again like it did during that seven-game slide.
Toronto's front office isn't finished either. Zachary Werenski of the Columbus Blue Jackets keeps coming up in trade speculation around this blue line.
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Whether that talk turns into an actual trade, or Toronto rides with what it has, one thing is clear. This defense corps carries more weight than any of the new forwards up front.
Is leaning on a 36-year-old Chris Tanev to fix the blue line a smart bet for the Maple Leafs?
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Maple Leafs land proven 40-goal scorer legend in exchange for Morgan Rielly in this major trade proposal
