{"id":952582,"date":"2026-10-31T01:56:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T01:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/952582\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T01:56:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T01:56:15","slug":"tanev-joshua-set-to-boost-maple-leafs-in-vancouver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/952582\/","title":{"rendered":"Tanev, Joshua set to boost Maple Leafs in Vancouver"},"content":{"rendered":"

VANCOUVER \u2014 Chris Tanev<\/a> stepped off the University of British Columbia ice after an intense hour-plus-long practice and announced his planned return to Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> action.<\/p>\n

\u201cReady to rumble tomorrow, hopefully,\u201d said Tanev, who needs one last thumbs-up from the medical staff before facing the Canucks, his original NHL team, three Saturdays after\u00a0going down to injury in Colorado.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so excited to be on the ice here. I remember being 20 years old at camp, stepping on this ice, and it sort of brings back a ton of memories. And it\u2019s very fun. It’s a great practice for us. Learned a lot. And just good energy and excitement with the group.\u201d<\/p>\n

After giving up 10 goals in consecutive regulation losses on this road trip, the healthy return of defensive stalwart Tanev \u2014 and power-checking forward Dakota Joshua<\/a> \u2014 has contributed to the club\u2019s excitement.<\/p>\n

Tanev says he \u201cdidn\u2019t feel great\u201d when Artturi Lehkonen bumped him, innocuously, from behind, but that he followed the recommended treatment and is feeling strong.<\/p>\n

He declined to get into the specifics of his suspected neck-area injury. Considering Tanev\u2019s storied injury history and ability to appear in just 11 games last season, observers could be forgiven for holding their breath the next time he gets hit from an awkward angle.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Is Tanev worried he could aggravate this unspecified injury?<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always concern when playing hockey. It’s a physical sport, and things happen. But talked to a lot of doctors, and we\u2019re sort of confident in the diagnosis we got. It’s different than what happened last year, so that’s sort of all I’ll say. It’s a lot better than what happened last year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Is this injury related to last year\u2019s at all?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to get into specifics,\u201d Tanev replied.<\/p>\n

Because coach Jim Hiller likes the way Jake McCabe and Darren Raddysh are performing as a pair, Tanev will slide to the right of Morgan Rielly. That pairing also keeps Tanev from jumping immediately into the heaviest shutdown minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s obviously a huge boost to our team. Tanny is kind of one of those irreplaceable players, with what he brings to our team on every given night,\u201d Troy Stecher said. \u201cSo, I know all the boys are pretty excited to have him back. He\u2019s a huge piece of our team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Delayed even longer by injury is third-line winger Dakota Joshua, another healthy ex-Canuck set to return in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

Joshua suffered a core injury toward the end of the 2025-26 season and spent long hours rehabbing over the summer with Tanev, who was working his way back from core muscle surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s awesome,\u201d Tanev said of his teammate\u2019s delayed season debut. \u201cHe was beside me a lot of the time and worked extremely hard. Obviously, this is a bit slower than he wanted to, but it’s awesome to see him back and be with the group. I’m thrilled, the guys are happy, and I’m sure it’s a big relief for him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Joshua and Tanev leaned on each other and shared the frustration of prolonged rehab as they pushed their way to strength. Joshua showed up at camp, but his nagging core injury failed to progress as originally planned. He was stuck on injured reserve until this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn unfortunate situation to be in, but not a better guy out there to be with,\u201d Joshua said, after leading the team stretch at UBC. \u201cYou put in a lot of hard work, a lot of hours by yourself trying to get ready, and then just having it not come together as you\u2019d like is tough, but part of the game. And it makes when you get back that much more special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joshua completed a four-game conditioning stint with the AHL Marlies and was eyeing a potential return Wednesday in Seattle, but his equipment got temporarily lost in transit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fitting, then, that his first NHL game in nearly seven months is also his first against the team that traded him to Toronto.<\/p>\n

\u201cNice to be back here for this first one. I missed them last year, so haven’t had that chance yet,\u201d Joshua said. \u201cIt\u2019s just funny how it worked out to be that way. There were some good years here, great memories, and just to be back here is cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hiller is urging Joshua to use his formidable six-foot-three, 203-pound frame as he tries catching up to a league already 15 games old.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s corner work, it’s wall work, it’s in front of the net. All those are areas that we’ve maybe struggled at times. So, he can really fill a void for us there,\u201d Hiller said. \u201cHasn’t played in a long time, but we expect them to be ready to roll and have a good game for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

One-Timers:\u00a0How\u2019s this for poetry? Jacob Quillan, traded to Vancouver by the Leafs two weeks ago, expects to make his Canucks debut against the team that didn\u2019t want him. Centre Filip Chytil was placed on injured reserve\u2026. Anthony Stolarz gets the nod in net for Toronto, which Hiller says was a planned start\u2026. Six ex-Canucks will be wearing Maple Leafs crests for this one. \u201cGuys have a lot of pride. They always want to show well, but you really want to show well in front of your ex-fans because they treated you so well and cheered you on,\u201d Hiller said\u2026. Bo Groulx is having a rough time earning Hiller\u2019s trust and projects to get scratched. Call-up Vinni Lettieri has essentially snatched a role until the Leafs return to forward health.<\/p>\n

Maple Leafs projected lineup Saturday in Vancouver:<\/p>\n

McKenna \u2013 Matthews \u2013 Roslovic
Cowan \u2013 Paul \u2013 Nylander
Joshua \u2013 Sissons \u2013 Lettieri
Duhaime \u2013 Blueger \u2013 MacEwen<\/p>\n

McCabe \u2013 Raddysh
Rielly \u2013 Tanev
Ekman-Larsson \u2013 Stecher<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VANCOUVER \u2014 Chris Tanev stepped off the University of British Columbia ice after an intense hour-plus-long practice and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":952583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,55],"class_list":["post-952582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=952582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/952583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=952582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=952582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=952582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}