The Calgary Flames have announced they will be without defenceman Chris Tanev for at least the ne two games versus the Chicago Blackhawks and Seattle Kraken.
Tanev left midway through the first period against the Columbus Blue Jackets after just 2:32 of ice time and did not return. Salim Valji of TSN added that the injury to Tanev was not on the shoulder that he had surgery on in the offseason.
Tanev’s injury timeline
With the injury being sustained on January 23, sidelining Tanev for the next two games gives him a well-timed window to rest and heal. The Flames play the Blackhawks and Kraken in a back-to-back set on January 26 and 27—the first at home, the second on the road. After these two games, the All-Star break comes around. With Nazem Kadri being the Flames’ lone representative, everyone else—Tanev especially—can take the time to recover from injuries and other minor ailments sustained.
The Flames will then continue their five-game road trip after the break, only they’ll head out east to first face off against the New York Rangers on February 6. That gives Tanev a full two weeks to recover, which the Flames hope will be the ideal case.
Tanev was already sidelined earlier this season, having only played 40 of the team’s 48 games so far. He is a crucial player for the Flames as they have on-ice woes and troubles securing standing points when he is not on the roster.
Tanev first missed five games in November with an upper-body injury, where the Flames went 0–3–2; then three games in December when he was out after taking a shot off the head, in which the Flames went 1–1–1 in that span. Overall the Flames are 1–4–3 with Tanev out of the lineup, so hopefully their next set of two games goes a bit better for the team as they vie for better playoff positioning.
The game plan for Calgary
Tanev has been heavily relied on by the Flames to excel in the shutdown defensive role, and he has very much done so. That said, he is fourth on the team in ice time per game, averaging 19:51. He’s behind Rasmus Andersson (24:47), Noah Hanifin (22:21), and MacKenzie Weegar (20:42). The Flames will look to this trio and Nikita Zadorov to step up and play more minutes in Tanev’s absence.
They’ll likely have Connor Mackey slot in alongside Michael Stone as the third pairing with expectations that the third pair would have far fewer minutes than that four players mentioned above.
It’s abundantly clear how important Tanev is for the Flames every time he is on the ice. Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery and some well-earned rest for the Flames’ defensive stalwart.
Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire
