As the Toronto Maple Leafs pulled up to the Saddledome on Monday morning, Chris Tanev eagerly cast a glance across the street to check on the status of the new rink.
It’s still early days in the work being done on Scotia Place, but after spending the better part of four seasons playing with the Calgary Flames, Tanev was obviously curious to see how it’s coming along.
“I thought there’d be more done, but I guess when you’re digging in minus-30, it probably takes a little longer,” Tanev said with a smile.
You know it’s cold when a guy who is famous for throwing his body in front of hockey pucks with reckless abandon is feeling bad for anyone having to work outside.
While the work on Scotia Place is steadily moving ahead and the arena is scheduled to open in the fall of 2027, it’s the Saddledome where Tanev became a fan-favourite in Calgary and a beloved teammate in the Flames lockerroom.
The building might be getting to the end of its life as the Flames’ home, but it’s a rink where Tanev made some lifelong friends and created lots of lasting memories.
And when he’s asked by a member of the travelling Toronto media about the Saddledome, he jumped to its defence on Monday.
“The character, the fans, there’s obviously a tonne of history here,” Tanev explained. “As much as it gets a bad rap, it was a fun place to play for me and I enjoyed being over there in that room. There’s a lot of character and a lot of history. It’s a fun place to play.”
Now with his hometown Leafs, Tanev will surely receive a hero’s welcome from Flames fans at the Saddledome on Tuesday evening. His former teammates might cheer loudest, though, when the tribute video plays on the big screen.
This is a defenceman who flat-out sacrificed his body at every turn throughout his time in Calgary. Jacob Markstrom called him his favourite teammate ever. After trading him to the Dallas Stars at the deadline last year, GM Craig Conroy raved about wanting the Flames’ young defencemen to aspire to be like Tanev.
He was a popular teammate who made the Flames better. Who knows if the 2022 Battle of Alberta playoff series might have gone differently had he not been fighting through a torn labrum, a separated shoulder and a sprained neck.
Those injuries weren’t revealed to the public until after the Flames’ season ended that year, and it somehow wasn’t a surprise that Tanev had played through them. That’s just who he was – and is.
His commitment and work ethic rubbed off on the team’s young blueliners like Rasmus Andersson and MacKenzie Weegar, who have since emerged as vital pieces of the leadership group.
Having witnessed their growth and development first hand, it doesn’t surprise Tanev in the slightest that both of those guys are having so much success this year.
“They’re both incredible players, both great people,” Tanev explained. “It’s only natural for them to keep progressing, as they are, that’s what’s going to happen in the game with good players and good people.
“They’re tremendously talented and off the ice they’re just as good people as they are good players, so that goes a long way.”
While the Leafs arrived in Calgary on Sunday evening and practised at the Saddledome on Monday afternoon, Tanev had only had the chance to say hi and catch-up with the people he ran into at the rink.
His former teammates have been busy. They didn’t get back from Seattle after Sunday night’s 3-2 win over the Kraken until the early hours of the morning, after all.
He’s been around the game long enough to know they didn’t need to wake up to a text from him trying to make plans.
“They’ve been playing, so I think they got in pretty late last night and I didn’t really want to bug anyone today,” Tanev said. “I’m sure they’re trying to get their rest.”
Tanev was understandably tight-lipped about whether there were any dinner plans, but it was clear that he was savouring being back in Calgary, even if he and his Leafs teammates had been greeted by a full-on winter storm upon their arrival.
Calgary hockey fans loved Tanev and, speaking on Monday, it was clear that the feeling was mutual.
“I enjoyed my time here a lot, a great part of my life,” Tanev said. “My son was born here and met a tremendous amount of people and built a tonne of relationships that I’ll have forever. It was a great place to play and my family and I really enjoyed it.”