Toronto Maple Leafs trade for Chris Tanev, look to get creative with his deal

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Josh Tupper
June 29, 2024 (7:18 PM)

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This afternoon the Toronto Maple Leafs made the move to acquire Chris Tanev and his free agent rights from the Dallas Stars, now they're tying to sign him.

Earlier today, the Toronto Maple Leafs secured the rights to their number one free agent target ahead of the start of free agency. Saturday afternoon in Las Vegas, Toronto acquired Chris Tanev from the Dallas Stars.

Hearing Toronto will be acquiring Chris Tanev's rights from Dallas

The Leafs attempted to acquire Tanev at the deadline, but were unsuccessful. Now it would appear that the 6'4 193lb thirty-four-year-old may be on the verge of joining Toronto as early as Sunday.

According to multiple reports the Leafs are looking to get creative with Tanev's contract and could be looking to use a loophole in the Collective Bargaining Agreement to decrease his cap hit.

Acquiring Tanev's rights from Dallas gives Toronto the option of going to max 8 year term. Sounds crazy, but a longer team helps lure players from more tax friendly markets and lowers the AAV. Tanev is likely to sign in 5-8 yr range.

Correction. Post deadline the player has to be on a teams reserve list, so Tanev can't get more than 7 years from Toronto. The Leafs made the trade to jump start a negotiation to sign Tanev

By increasing term to a length that would likely see Tanev go on long-term injury reserve the Maple Leafs could easily find a way to make his cap hit more palatable.