Maple Leafs’ Chris Tanev A Surprise Scratch, Out Against Jets After Suffering Lower-Body Injury

The Toronto Maple Leafs have ruled out defenseman Chris Tanev with a lower-body injury ahead of the club’s 5-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Monday.

Philippe Myers skated with the Maple Leafs. Tanev was one of six members of the Leafs to have played in all 34 games leading into Monday’s contest.

"he's a great defenseman and obviously blocks a lot of pucks, so anytime you're missing one of your guys, it hurts," Maple Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll said of Tanev after the game. "But at the same time, I think we have a lot of depth and I trust our team to step up."

After the game, Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube did not provide any details on the defenseman's injury other than it was a lower-body injury and that it occurred during the club's 6-3 loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday.

Berube indicated there were some game-time decisions. However, he chose not to show his hand.

Tanev participated in the team’s line rushes ahead of their visit from the Jets, the last game before the holiday break, with Myers also joining in. Given the circumstances of Tanev being a late scratch, the defense core has gotten a shake-up.

In the Next Gen game, the Leafs’ blueline consists of Morgan Rielly and Myers, Jake McCabe and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and Simon Benoit and Conor Timmins together.

The 35-year-old joins a growing list of players impacted by the injury bug that have plagued the team over the past month.

"He brings a great deal of help, especially defensively, blocking shots wise, penalty killing wise. So, you definitely miss a body like that," Mitch Marner said of Tanev. "But like we talked about all season, man goes down, next man up. So, I thought he's done a good job of that."

On Saturday, Tanev played 18:58 and registered a hit and three blocked shots.

The 16-year veteran has one goal and nine assists in 34 games this season in the first year of a six-year, $27 million deal he signed with Toronto in the offseason.