Insider Hints That Chris Tanev’s Season & Career Are in Trouble

Something shifted this week in speculation about when Chris Tanev might return to the Toronto Maple Leafs. This week, videos from the intermission of the Maple Leafs’ 2-0 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning showed Tanev skating. On the surface, that looked like a good sign. But then the tone around the team changed, and what followed didn’t align with the optics.

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Nick Kypreos Wrote About the Situation in His Sportsnet Post

The most interesting take came from Nick Kypreos in his recent Sportsnet column. He not only hinted that Tanev might not be back so quickly, but that he might not be back at all. The real decision, the one that matters, is whether he chooses to go the surgical route to fix the structural issue. If he goes down that road, the hope — and it is just hope — is that he’d make it back well before the end of the regular season. But nobody should pretend that such surgery is that simple a deal.

Hints of Former Maple Leafs Defenseman Jake Muzzin

And that’s where the comparison to Jake Muzzin comes in. People in the organization remember how that played out far too well. Muzzin took what seemed like an awkward but manageable hit back in October 2022. He skated off, looking shaken but not broken. Then everything unraveled over the months that followed.

By the following summer, he was sitting with specialists, mapping out two possible futures: surgery or no surgery. Both were likely to cause damage. None of it was clean, none of it was sure, and eventually, he never made it back.

While Tanev’s Injury Isn’t the Same, His Path Echoes Muzzin’s

Tanev’s situation isn’t necessarily the same, but when Kypreos linked what he’s hearing to Muzzin, that might spell problems. The hit Tanev took knocked him out of the lineup. Since that time, a second question has been added to “When’s he back?” It’s “What happens if he takes another one of those hits?”

That’s the real fear. Could another collision push Tanev’s career over the cliff? Could it speed up something you can’t walk away from? Finally, if surgery lowers that risk, it becomes part of the conversation very quickly.

The Maple Leafs Haven’t Confirmed Which Way Tanev’s Decision Is Headed

Earlier today, Kypreos again noted the choice Tanev faces. On Friday, Tanev will have missed six straight weeks. For a player who has built a career on sheer toughness — shot-blocking, punishing minutes, all the stuff nobody glamorizes — the silence around this feels heavy.

Nobody’s saying for sure his season is done. Nobody’s saying his career is in jeopardy. Not officially, anyway. But if you’re listening, you can’t help but worry between the lines.

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