- Chris Tanev has not been cleared to play six months after core muscle surgery
- The Maple Leafs defenseman is aiming to be on the ice for day one of camp on Sept. 17
- Read below for what Tanev said about his slow rehab and the injuries that wrecked his season
Chris Tanev still doesn’t have the green light.
The Maple Leafs defenseman told the Toronto Star’s Dave Feschuk this week that doctors have not cleared him to return, six months after core muscle surgery. Toronto opens training camp on Sept. 17.
He was asked where things stand with camp two weeks away.
“We still have to check some boxes with the doctors. But the plan is for me to be out there day one of camp.”
Last season was the worst of his 16-year career. A concussion in October cost him a handful of games.
Then came Nov. 1 in Philadelphia, his first night back. A collision with Flyers forward Matvei Michkov left Tanev face down on the ice, and he was stretchered off with a spinal injury and held overnight in a Philadelphia hospital.
Toronto got him back about seven weeks later. Three games into the return, he hurt his groin and core muscle in a game in Detroit in late December.
Tanev explained why the call to operate was easier on the medical staff than it was on him.
“For the doctors it was probably pretty easy. It was like, ‘You need surgery.’ But for me it was tough. I was trying to rehab and get back to a place where I could potentially help the team if we did make playoffs. But obviously that didn’t happen.”
The surgery happened in New York in early March. Tanev has worked out all summer with longtime trainer Gary Roberts and has been skating with a group that includes Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and his younger brother, Brandon.
Nothing is lingering from the spinal injury, he said, and the rest is up to the doctors.
“I mean, I’m feeling good. We still have to talk to the doctors, I think, in a week or two. But the plan is hopefully I’m ready to rumble once everything gets going.”
Catch Tanev’s end-of-season media availability from April, when the 11-game season was still fresh:
Toronto finished last in the Atlantic without him and missed the playoffs for the first time in a decade. A year earlier, with Tanev playing 75 games as the primary shutdown guy, the Leafs won the division.
He turns 37 in December with four years left on the six-year, $27 million contract he signed in July 2024. Toronto has kept tinkering with the roster this week, adding Brendan Brisson on a one-year deal.
One more stop comes first. Tanev headlines an event at Victoria Village Arena on Sept. 13, the rink where he laced up his first pair of skates as a five-year-old.
Camp opens Sept. 17. The doctors get their say first.
