The Calgary Flames a running into some injury issues. In the first game of their road trip against the Colorado Avalanche, the Flames saw Chris Tanev play just 15 seconds before he left the game. Picking up the puck behind his own goal line, Tanev was hit by Ross Colton and his body slammed awkwardly into the boards.
Tanev leaves game due to injury
The outcome of the play was that the Flames would go down two defenders—one for two minutes, one for the rest of the game. Noah Hanifin would get a roughing penalty for his retaliation, while Tanev left the game.
First and foremost, we all hope Tanev is doing okay and will not be out long-term. Hopefully he was held out for precautionary reasons, or that his injury will be acute with a quick recovery timeline. There will definitely be more information from Ryan Huska and the team in the near future on the magnitude of Tanev’s injury.
Implications for the Flames
Tanev is one of the Flames’ best defencemen and his absence in the game was felt. Who knows, if he played the full game, maybe the Flames wouldn’t have blown the 5–3 lead to lose 6–5 in regulation.
The bigger issue here is that Tanev is a pending unrestricted free agent and he’s a major target for many teams looking to contend for the Stanley Cup. His defensive play is elite and he chips in on offence with decent possession numbers.
Between now and the trade deadline, his value can fluctuate, and the Flames will have the big task of figuring out exactly what they can do with Tanev and when they can make a trade. For a player like Tanev who plays with no regard for pain, it’s getting to the point where trading him sooner rather than later will be the most prudent move.
Let’s hope that things work out for Calgary in aggregate—a quick recovery for Tanev right now, a trade sooner rather than later if the Flames do in fact plan on trading him, and a healthy season overall for Tanev.
Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire
