Maple Leafs’ Chris Tanev Problem Is Bigger Than One Injury

You can learn a lot about a hockey team by watching the players whose absence makes everyone nervous. Chris Tanev is one of those players. When Auston Matthews describes a teammate as a “heart-and-soul” guy, you know we're talking about somebody who brings more to the rink than his name on the lineup card.

Tanev won’t lead the Maple Leafs in scoring. He won't get the loudest cheers for a pretty goal. His job is to make life miserable for the opposition around his own net, block shots, win battles, and help keep the puck out of dangerous areas. And now he's hurt.

The big question is how long the Maple Leafs will have to play without him.

The immediate question is how long Toronto can manage without him. But I think there's a bigger question here. How much does this team depend on one player to make its defensive game work? That's worth thinking about, especially with a new management group trying to reshape the Maple Leafs into something more dependable.

You can't replace Tanev by finding another Tanev. At least, not easily, anyway. Players who defend the way he does aren't growing on trees. And even if John Chayka finds somebody who can handle similar responsibilities, that player still has to fit into the team's defensive structure.

Marshall Rifai might provide some depth, and the organization will have to work with the players already available. But calling up a defenseman and replacing what Tanev actually does are two different things.

The Tanev injury becomes a test of the Maple Leafs' overall roster construction.

A good team needs its stars to produce, but it also needs enough reliable players to handle the difficult minutes when somebody goes down. If one injury forces everybody else into unfamiliar roles, the problem might be bigger than the injury itself.

I'm not suggesting the Maple Leafs should rush into a trade. That's how teams sometimes make expensive decisions they later regret. Chayka needs to figure out what the club has before deciding what it needs to buy. But this is a pretty good early-season reminder that building a team isn't just about collecting talent. It's about having enough of the right talent in the right places.

Any good NHL team needs both scorers and defenders. Tanev will be missed.

Matthews and the other scorers can only do so much. Somebody still has to defend the front of the net when the other team comes flying in. For now, Toronto has to hope Tanev's absence is short. If it isn't, we'll learn something important about the players around him.

And perhaps we'll learn something about how much work this new-look Maple Leafs team still has to do.