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http://theprovince.com/sports/hocke...otchford-should-the-canucks-trade-chris-tanev
He is getting better and better but also takes a lot of hits and a lot of wear not sure he makes it to his late 30s like a lot of other smooth non physical dmen so maybe his value is super hi now should the Canucks trade him or nah?
Should the Canucks trade Chris Tanev?
JASON BOTCHFORD
More from Jason Botchford
Published: July 19, 2016
Updated: July 19, 2016 7:24 PM PDT
When Team Canada was hugging a third-period lead in the gold medal game at the world hockey championships, Chris Tanev was playing more than anyone.
He is 26 years old, and there is a distinct possibility he could average out as the best defensive defenceman in hockey for the next three to five years.
That skill set seems like it should be vitally important to the Vancouver Canucks, a team yearning to get back into a playoff race after giving up the eighth-most goals in the NHL last season.
But you can’t help but wonder.
Should the Canucks trade Tanev?
At those world championships, it was evident Bill Peters, Canada’s coach, came to the same conclusion many who closely follow the Canucks have come around on.
Tanev is among the most reliable defenders in hockey.
It’s a point that’s been underscored by the booming growth in hockey analytics, which has been spreading like Pokemon Go for two years.
One of the great successes of the analytics movement has been the way it’s allowed people to quantify the effectiveness of so-called stay-at-home blue-liners, whose impact on games can’t be understood with a scoresheet.
The underlying data can show who excels at suppressing shot attempts, and few in the league have been better than Tanev.
This past season, Tanev went from seventh to fifth among defencemen who played 1,000 minutes, in what some would call shot suppression, relative to the rest of his team.
Vancouver opponents averaged 7.52 fewer shot attempts-per-hour when Tanev was on the ice, than when he wasn’t.
It means the undrafted Tanev has become one of the league’s elite defenders, albeit one who provides very little in the way of offence.
It also means the league is quickly moving past the point where players like Tanev are incredibly underrated.
Just look at the Taylor Hall return the New Jersey Devils got for Adam Larsson, in what was the most lopsided deal of the summer, even if people can’t stop talking about Shea Weber for PK Subban.
Tanev is better than Larsson, and that is why it’s so difficult to escape that one lingering question this summer.
Should the Canucks trade him?
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He is getting better and better but also takes a lot of hits and a lot of wear not sure he makes it to his late 30s like a lot of other smooth non physical dmen so maybe his value is super hi now should the Canucks trade him or nah?
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