Leafs’ Chris Tanev leaves game against Avalanche with upper-body injury

The Toronto Maple Leafs announced during their game against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night that defenseman Chris Tanev would not return to action after he suffered an upper-body injury in the first period.

Tanev, who has an extensive injury history that includes multiple concussions throughout his lengthy NHL career, was limited to just 11 appearances in the 2025-26 season after mostly staying healthy in 2024-25, as he skated in 75 games in his first year in Toronto.

Last March, Tanev underwent surgery to address a core muscle issue. The team stated he would be ready in time for this season, and that has been the case, as the Toronto native has appeared in all five games to this point in the year. The 36-year-old has one point, an assist, so far while skating to a plus-2 rating on an average of 19:31 of time on ice per game prior to his early exit Saturday.

Toronto’s defensive unit was largely reworked over the summer by new general manager John Chayka, but to this point in the season, Tanev had found himself in a familiar spot skating on the second pairing alongside Morgan Rielly, serving as a stay-at-home presence alongside the Leafs’ veteran puckmover.

Last November, Tanev missed about a month and a half after he exited a game on a stretcher following a collision, and he made it another three games after he returned from that before suffering a groin injury. Tanev is in the third season of a six-year pact that comes along with a salary cap hit of $4.5 million.

If Tanev is forced to miss additional time, another veteran Leafs blueliner could draw into the lineup in Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

Entering a big test Saturday against the reigning Presidents’ Trophy winners, new head coach Jim Hiller’s team has gotten off to a solid, if unspectacular, 2-2-1 start to the year.