Hughes has told Canucks management he's a "Tanev fan": report
Sounds like Quinn Hughes would love a reunion with his former Vancouver Canucks defence partner.
But will it happen?
As we’ve speculated before, a Canucks trade for Tanev could make sense. The 33-year-old blueliner is on the trade block given his expiring contract and the fact the Calgary Flames are heading for a retool. The Flames have a 5-8-2 record and they’re not getting any younger.
“There’s a ton of teams after Tanev,” CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal reported this morning. He added that the Canucks are not one of the teams on Tanev’s no-trade list.
“Some say the Canucks would want Tanev to play with Quinn Hughes. Hughes himself has let management know how much of a Tanev fan he is,” Dhaliwal said on Donnie and Dhali.
The Canucks want to trade Conor Garland or Anthony Beauvillier, but neither player interests the Flames, Dhaliwal says. Pretty easy to see why, given the cap hit for both Garland ($4.95 million) and Beauvillier ($4.15 million), and their lack of production.
“Not even a second-rounder’s gonna cut it right now,” the Canucks insider added. “The Flames are looking for a young prospect who can play in their lineup right now.”
"The Flames are looking for a young prospect who can play in their lineup right now.."@DhaliwalSports on the #Canucks interest in Chris Tanev and if anything changes with the Soucy injury.https://t.co/h4e2SKM7eJ pic.twitter.com/XRrI7659G4
— Donnie & Dhali (@DonnieandDhali) November 15, 2023
The Flames traded Tyler Toffoli to New Jersey in the summer in exchange for 25-year-old forward Yegor Sharangovich and a third-round pick. Dhaliwal expects that’s the type of deal the Flames are looking for and mentioned Nils Höglander as a possibility.
The Flames are apparently taking an old-school approach to dealing Tanev, with Dhaliwal saying they prefer to send the rugged blueliner to the East. They may run low on teams to deal with if they stick with that approach, given a mass exodus that could be coming for the Flames. Calgary has four prominent pending unrestricted free agents on their roster, including Tanev, Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanifin, and Nikita Zadorov.
Zadorov is also said to be a player the Canucks are interested in, though he is a left shot. Tanev makes more sense as a right-shot defender to play with either Hughes, Ian Cole, or Carson Soucy.
Vancouver could certainly use Tanev, who had great chemistry with Hughes during the Canucks captain’s rookie season. Tanev turns 34 next month and has had a strong first three seasons in Calgary, though his ice time (19:06) is down in year four.
While Hughes has found a new partner in Filip Hronek, it’s nice to have options, and the Czech blueliner seems to be the only one at the moment. After Hronek, Vancouver’s depth on the right side currently consists of Tyler Myers, Mark Friedman, and Noah Juulsen.
Whether the Canucks are ready to give up a prospect like Höglander is another story, though they could get some LTIR cap relief with Soucy’s injury.