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Report: Contract talks between Canucks, Tanev ‘moving in a positive direction’
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Thomas Drance
Mar 24, 2015, 11:40 EDTUpdated:
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Photo Credit: Segei Belski/USA TODAY Sports
The Vancouver Canucks are reportedly making progress in contract talks with their best defensive defenseman Chris Tanev, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
Tanev, 25, is a pending restricted free agent and is having a marvellous year. Though the production isn’t there, one might reasonably argue that he’s been among the best defensive defensemen in the NHL this season. 
Read on past the jump.
Here’s the report from Friedman’s latest edition of 30 Thoughts:
Hearing there’s progress in contract talks between the Vancouver Canucks and Chris Tanev. It’s hard to say if it’s imminent, but it’s moving in a positive direction.
That’s good to hear if you’re a Canucks fan. 
Playing a top-pairing role, mostly alongside Alexander Edler, Tanev has been half of Vancouver’s key matchup pair this season. Over the past couple of years Tanev has moved into a top-of-the-roster type role in Vancouver, and he’s proven over a significant sample of games that he can drive play against the best players offensive in the world.
He’s also been crucial to Vancouver’s penalty-killing success, and Vancouver 4-on-5 performance fell off significantly when Tanev was out with injury.
We tried to peg what Tanev’s next contract might look like a few months ago, and came up with this rough valuation:
My opinion: if I’m the Canucks and I’m ready to commit to Tanev long-term, I’m looking at something like a five-year, $21 million contract (hypothetical breakdown $3.6, $4, $4.466, $4.466, $4.466) as a realistic best case scenario. Of course, that would also be my desired end-point, not what I’d be presenting in the preliminary stages of negotiations.
We also predicted in that piece that this negotiation might go long, and may not get settled until the eve of a possible arbitration hearing. Friedman’s latest report would suggest that perhaps the club has budged a bit on their offer. 
After seeing this Canucks club play without Tanev in the lineup recently and then watching how they’ve fared since his return, if the club then decided to up their offer to the young defensive ace, that would be totally understandable.
Read 30 thoughts in full here.

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