Report: Maple Leafs Expected to Offer Chris Tanev a 'Minimum Six-Year Deal'

It sounds like the Toronto Maple Leafs are prepared to dole out a long-term deal for Chris Tanev.

On the same day Toronto acquired the rights to the veteran defenseman from the Dallas Stars on Saturday, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported on his '32 Thoughts' podcast that the Leafs could be prepared to give the 34-year-old a contract with a term of at least six years.

"It's expected to be good enough to get it done," Friedman said. "It looks to me that Tanev is going to be the guy for Toronto at a minimum of a six-year deal."

Late Friday, Friedman added on his blog that he estimated an eventual deal to come in around $4 million per season for six years.

The Leafs acquired Tanev's rights from the Stars to get a jump on free agency. Multiple teams are interested in the shutdown defenseman, but the Leafs have an exclusive window to speak to him directly and try to finalize a contract before he hits the open market on July 1.

Giving Tanev more years could help keep the term down, but the Leafs run the risk of committing to a player who could be expensive toward the final years of the deal.

Tanev's most recent contract paid him an average of $4.5 million per season.

Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving had been in pursuit of Tanev since the fall when the player was with the Calgary Flames and the club was looking for defensive help.

Tanev is just one of the multiple defensemen the Leafs are hot to acquire with other players like Vancouver Canucks' Nikita Zadorov and Florida Panthers' Oliver Ekman-Larsson named in as players of interest to Toronto.

But if the Leafs can get Tanev's locked into a deal before July 1, that could help narrow their focus when the open market hits as they look to acquire another veteran D-man.

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