Dhaliwal: Chris Tanev is the Canucks’ most sought after free agent behind Jake Guentzel

The Vancouver Canucks continue to sign their free agents as we ramp up toward the busiest week of the entire year for the National Hockey League. But they’ve also been keeping tabs on unrestricted free agents who are set to hit the market on July 1st.

 

According to CHEK TV’s Rick Dhaliwal, the club have a rooted interest in bringing back long-time Canuck, Chris Tanev.

Tanev signed a three-year entry-level deal with the Canucks as an undrafted free agent in 2010. He spent most of his time early on with the Manitoba Moose, scoring one goal and nine points in 39 games. This earned the defensive defenceman a shot with the big club in Vancouver, even a handful of games against the Boston Bruins in the 2011 Stanley Cup Final.

After 10 seasons in Vancouver, Tanev tested the waters in free agency and signed with the Canucks’ division rival Calgary Flames. Fast forward four years, with the Flames heading towards a rebuild, the Canucks were rumoured to be interested in trading for Tanev when he was made available ahead of the trade deadline. However, Tanev was traded to the Dallas Stars instead. And despite their efforts to re-sign him, Tanev looks to be testing the market with plenty of interested suitors.

However, according to Dhaliwal, it’s Jake Guentzel that remains number one on the Canucks’ list. But not so fast. Guentzel might not even make it to free agency after all. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reported that the Carolina Hurricanes made a new offer to their pending unrestricted, which he is currently pondering.

TSN’s Darren Dreger later seconded Dhaliwal’s comments, linking both Jake Guentzel and Chris Tanev as potential options for the Canucks on July 1st.

After Vancouver mass re-signed Teddy Blueger, Dakota Joshua and Tyler Myers extensions, the Canucks are set to enter free agency with $12,040,833 in available cap space. With Tucker Poolman’s $2.5M still needing to be placed on long-term injured reserve, Vancouver realistically has $14,540,833 to play with this free agency period.