Vancouver Canucks D Chris Tanev Close to Returning

The Vancouver Canucks surrendered eight goals on Tuesday night, but help is on the way: Chris Tanev could return as early as Friday.

Finally, some good news for the Vancouver Canucks.

After the team gave up eight goals in their last game, they clearly need some assistance on defense. There’s only so long they can rely on a top pairing of Luca Sbisa and Troy Stecher.

Help is on the way. Chris Tanev is back practicing with the team:

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Tanev has been out with injury since Nov. 2, when the Canucks played the Montreal Canadians. Since then, the team is 8-11-1.

Since then, the team also lost Tanev’s partner Alexander Edler, who remains out with a broken finger. Few teams can absorb the loss of their top defense pairing, and Vancouver is certainly not the exception here. Without Edler or Tanev, the Canucks have surrendered 28 goals in eight games, which is an average of 3.5 per game.

So, the Canucks desperately need Tanev.

Whom Should He Play With?

With Edler on the shelf for a few more weeks, it will be interesting to see who Tanev partners with.

The easy option is to slot him with Stecher and return Sbisa to the bottom pairing:

Stecher — Tanev
Hutton — Gudbranson
Sbisa — Tryamkin

Or, the Canucks could take this opportunity to split up Ben Hutton and Erik Gudbranson and try some new top-four combinations:

Hutton — Tanev
Stecher — Gudbranson
Sbisa — Tryamkin

I would opt for the second option. Hutton has a lot more to give, and Tanev is one player who improves everyone he plays with.

Regardless, the Vancouver Canucks are getting one of their best players back. And not a moment too soon.