Chris Tanev close to deal with Calgary Flames

The Calgary Flames could be taking two of their rival’s star players in one day. Rick Dhaliwal of TSN and Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet are both reporting that a deal is close with free agent Chris Tanev. Dhaliwal adds that Tanev’s contract would be four years and carry an average annual value of $4.5 million.

After already adding Jacob Markstrom on a six-year deal, the Flames have apparently decided that the best way to get ahead of the Vancouver Canucks is by stealing their free agents. Interestingly enough, the Flames let T.J. Brodie walk for $20 million over four years in Toronto, only to bring in Tanev at a relatively similar price tag. They obviously decided Tanev was the better fit, but it’s not like the veteran defenseman comes without risk.

Tanev, who will turn 31 before the 2020-21 season begins, has been an excellent player every time he touched the ice for Vancouver. The problem is, he would routinely go weeks or even months without touching that ice due to injury. Tanev has never played more than 70 games in a single season and reached even that threshold only once in his career. He has totaled just 514 games through parts of 10 seasons, a number that should be substantially higher.

However, the interesting part with those injury woes is that Tanev actually played in every Vancouver game this season. All 69 regular-season games had Tanev in the lineup, and all 17 postseason matches did, too. If that’s the kind of health the Flames are buying, they’ll come to appreciate Tanev, even more, when he’s on their side. But that is an incredibly risky proposition, considering their other departures on the blue line.