NHL Trade Rumors: 3 best fits for Chris Tanev

Vancouver Canucks defenseman Chris Tanev is on the trading block. Here are the three best fits for him. 

The Vancouver Canucks are finally starting to rebuild. An important part of any rebuild is finding out which players you want to keep and which ones you should trade. The Canucks have a tough decision to make with Chris Tanev. While it’s not certain they’ll trade him, general manager Jim Benning says their asking price is very high, which suggests they’re at least listening to offers.

Vancouver could get a huge return for Tanev, which could help jump start their rebuild. He’s under contract for the next three seasons. Moreover, Tanev has a very reasonable cap hit of just $4.45 million a year. Right handed defensemen are becoming increasingly difficult to acquire, making him a very attractive commodity.

These three teams should be more than willing to pay the price to get one of the most underrated defensemen in the NHL.

3. Buffalo Sabres

Perhaps no team in the NHL should be more desperate to acquire Chris Tanev than the Buffalo Sabres. They have one of the weakest blue lines in the NHL and there aren’t a lot of internal options to make it better. Tanev would give them a quality defenseman capable of playing huge minutes. This would ease the burden on Rasmus Ristolainen, who is miscast as a first pairing defenseman who plays in all situations.

The only issue is the Sabres don’t have too much to offer. Evander Kane is an option, but with one year left on his deal, he makes no sense for a rebuilding team. One can assume Jack Eichel is off the table. But maybe Sam Reinhart isn’t. The Sabres are open to trading their first round pick, so that could be a part of the hypothetical package. Reinhart plus Buffalo’s 2017 first rounder is a solid deal for Tanev.