Chris Tanev is returning to his roots.
The Leafs defenceman will meet and greet fans on Sunday at Victoria Village Arena, which is where the Toronto native’s unlikely journey to the NHL began at age five.
“It’s where my first memories of skating and actually playing hockey were,” Tanev told TSN in a Zoom interview. “It definitely brings back a lot of memories.”
Sunday’s event, dubbed the “Where It All Began” Tour, will raise money for the Victoria Village Minor Hockey Association. Tickets are $90 and will come with a signed picture and goodie bag.
The love Tanev developed for the game back in minor hockey helped him overcome adversity and make it to the NHL despite being undersized and undrafted. He’s now logged 878 regular-season games over 16 seasons.
Tanev’s latest season brought more adversity with a series of injuries limiting the gritty blueliner to just 11 games with the last one on Dec. 28. He underwent core muscle surgery on March 4.
Those in attendance on Sunday (there are 500 tickets available on a first-come, first-served basis) will likely be curious to hear how the 36-year-old’s rehab is going.
“It’s going very well,” he assured. “I’ve been out there skating and feeling quite good. I think it’s the end of the week or early next week, we have a little chat with the doctors but, up until now, it’s going quite well.”
Tanev initially delayed surgery in the hopes of being available for a playoff run that never materialized. After the surgery took place, the team announced Tanev was expected to be a full participant at training camp and he remains optimistic about getting the greenlight.
“I feel quite good,” Tanev stressed. “I thought I would be feeling good. I knew I would be able to put in the work. We’ll see how the next appointment or two goes in the coming days and then gear up for, I think we’re on the ice in a week today, if I’m correct.”
The first practice of Toronto’s training camp is expected to be on Sept. 17 although the team has not announced the schedule yet.
During his end-of-season media availability in April, Tanev pointed to his tireless work ethic as the main reason why he was confident about a return to form.
“It’s just a really slow rehab,” he said when asked about the biggest challenge this off-season. “Anyone who knows me, I feel like I always wanna do too much almost and there’s times where you get told to sort of back off and slow down and you gotta just stick to the process so you don’t make things worse by trying to do too much.”
If Tanev is able to get back up to full speed quickly, it will be a big boost to a Leafs team that is looking to bounce back after missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade. With Tanev sidelined most of the year, Toronto tumbled to 31st in goals against and 28th in the overall standings.
“I always expect the best from me,” Tanev said. “Always working on things to improve but having not played since the end of December, it’s gonna take a game or two to get feeling (chuckle) back to sort of what you expect to see. But, having said that, I expect the best out of myself and I’m really looking forward to sort of getting out there formally with everyone.”
That includes Auston Matthews, who also saw his season end prematurely after taking a knee-on-knee hit from Radko Gudas on March 12. The Leafs captain underwent surgery on March 19 to repair a grade 3 tear of the medial collateral ligament.
Unprompted, Tanev notes that Matthews “looks amazing” in the summer skates ahead of training camp.
“He’s going to be amazing,” Tanev predicted. “He worked extremely hard this summer and put in all the work he needed to do to be how he always is and an extremely effective player and one of the best players in the league.”
New general manager John Chayka has revamped the roster around Matthews and the core and also brought in a new coaching staff led by Jim Hiller. There is optimism that all the changes will help the team jump right back into the playoffs. A lot of excitement is also being generated by the arrival of first-overall pick Gavin McKenna.
“Extremely smart,” Tanev said of his first impression of the winger. “He sees the ice very well and can make a ton of plays. I think he’s gonna do amazing. He’s got a great head on his shoulders.”
With all the new players, training camp this season will be all the more important especially with a shorter pre-season schedule. Leafs players will have, at most, two exhibition outings before the curtain rises on the regular season on Sept. 29 against the Montreal Canadiens.
Tanev is looking forward to building chemistry with two-time Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky, who was the team’s big free-agent signing.
“It’ll be an honour to play in front of Bob, who’s obviously one of the all-time great goalies,” Tanev said. “Just curious, once we get going, to sort of get the tendencies that he likes and where he sort of likes his defencemen to be [because] every goalie is different. But once we get going, just being able to communicate and work off each other is always fun.”
Before things get going for real next week, Tanev is looking forward to Sunday’s event and a chance to spend time ensconced in Leafs Nation. He is entering the third year of a six-year contract with his hometown team and, even in trying times, he never takes the opportunity for granted.
“It’s amazing, obviously,” Tanev said. “It’s a huge privilege and honour to be a Maple Leaf and play in arguably the most popular hockey city in the world. It comes with a lot of responsibility and yourself and everyone else wants success and you want to win. It is definitely a true privilege to be a Maple Leaf.”
