It’s not often that one gets called a snake as a compliment, but Chris Tanev was recently praised by former Calgary Flames teammate Matthew Tkachuk in this particular fashion. Despite Tkachuk netting no goals for the Florida Panthers this series, his rival, Chris Tanev, has been blocking shot after shot for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

In a statement posted to X earlier today, Matthew Tkachuk is said to have called the defenseman the “head of the snake” on Toronto’s back end. “He’s the head of the snake on their back-end, it’s no surprise to see what he’s doing now,” Tkachuk said, attributing Tanev with the central responsibility on that D line, words that Tanev surely finds encouraging while he recovers from whatever caused him to walk out of game 3, despite Berube insisting it was just something to do with equipment.

Chris Tanev has been a critical part of Toronto’s defense and is near the top of the league in shot blocking in the postseason. With Craig Berube saying, “Our team has really fed off of that side of what he brings to the table night in and night out throughout the year.” So Tkachuk is only mirroring the facts with his latest statement.

Matthew Tkachuk’s comment is nothing new considering Tanev’s long standing record as a shot blocker

Chris Tanev has always been one of those players who just puts everything on the line, and Tkachuk clearly knows this from the days they shared on the Calgary Flames. In fact, in the game against the Dallas Stars in 2022, when Tkachuk scored his 40th goal and 100th point, Tanev was the one who netted the game winner, resulting in the 4-2 result.

It’s really Tanev’s shot blocking however, that stands out and his attitude about it. During the regular season with the Leafs this past year, Tanev was asked, prior to breaking the shots blocked record for the Leafs with 176 shots blocked at the time, what he felt about the whole thing. Tanev’s answer was understated, to put it mildly: “It is what it is. I really don’t care,” the defenseman said, only underscoring his focus on the game, not the titles.

And it’s not only Tanev’s former teammates, like Matthew Tkachuk, who are praising him; current teammate Max Domi was asked a similar question when Tanev was coming upon the most shots blocked record for the Leafs earlier in the regular season, and his reply was heartening: “I mean, there’s not many guys that want to do that job and there’s a reason he’s the best at it.” Domi said, adding, “He’s been doing it for a long, long time. It’s the most selfless thing you can do is eat a puck for your teammates so he does it better than anyone.” 

Chris Tanev certainly seems to be one of the Maple Leafs’ pillars in this series and in general, and time will tell whether Matthew Tkachuk’s words will hold true for game 4 or not. Tkachuk himself is probably hoping that they don’t, because if Toronto wins, it’ll make a comeback for the reigning champions look really slim!