Grading Dallas Stars’ Trade for Chris Tanev

The thought was the Flames were looking for a first-round pick for Tanev. Obviously, they didn’t come away with that, but they still managed to grab a few assets. How did they fare? Plus, the Stars add one of the best defensive defensemen in the NHL to one of the most talented rosters in the Western Conference. 

Stars Hit a Potential Home Run

Where the Stars needed a boost most was on the right side of their blue line; Miro Heiskanen has been playing on his off-hand alongside Thomas Harley. With Tanev, they should get someone who slots in somewhere in the top-four alongside Heiskanen, Harley, or even Esa Lindell.

Tanev will not wow anyone with his offensive skill set; he had just 14 points in 56 games at the time of the trade. But he is an underrated puck-moving defenseman and will help the Stars transition out of the defensive zone. There’s value in that, but where he should help most is defensively.

Tanev’s defensive impacts this season haven’t been as strong as in previous ones. But his even-strength defense has still been worth an expected goals above replacement (xGAR) of 3.9, ranking him 21st among defensemen league-wide. He’s still excelling in that regard, and when looking at his RAPM chart for the last three seasons, he’s had a strong positive impact defensively at even strength:

Even offensively, Tanev isn’t a liability. Don’t expect him to score much, but he does still have at least average offensive impacts. With how good he has been defensively throughout his career and even this season, this has the potential to be a real home run of a trade. 

The beautiful part about this for the Stars is they added a well-rounded two-way defenseman without giving up any of their top assets. It is a bit surprising that Tanev did not go for a first-round pick. One) Defensive defensemen like him are usually highly coveted around the trade deadline. Most are not as good as him, either. And in the fact he’s a right-handed shot, one almost certainly would have thought the Flames would’ve gotten a first-rounder instead of a second as the main piece. 

There’s really nothing to dislike about the Stars’ side of the trade. They upgraded what was probably their biggest need ahead of the trade deadline. They did so without giving up anything significant and should also get quite the boost from having Tanev on their blue line. 

Stars Grade: A

Flames May Have Sold Tanev Too Quickly 

If this is the trade the Flames were holding out for, then it’s OK to be disappointed if you’re a Flames fan. Trade markets are always different from year to year. But when players like David Savard and Ben Chiarot, defensive defensemen worse than Tanev, have gone for first-round picks in recent years, it’s a pretty disappointing return. 

The Flames also retained 50 percent of Tanev’s $4.95 million cap hit. The Devils’ retaining 50 percent of the 50 percent doesn’t affect anything for the Flames, so why didn’t they come away with a first-round pick? Even though Tanev doesn’t have any term and will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, a defenseman of his style should’ve netted the team a first-round pick since there was 50 percent retention. 

In addition to the two picks, the Flames received Artyom Grushnikov, a physical defenseman who was a second-round pick of the Stars in the 2021 draft. He had just eight points in 66 AHL games at the time of the trade, but offense is not the name of the game with him anyway. Scott Wheeler of The Athletic had Grushnikov ranked as the Stars’ 10th-best prospect, so perhaps he has a chance to be something; he is still only 20 years old (From ‘Dallas Stars are No. 21 in 2024 NHL prospect pool rankings’ – The Athletic, 2/10/2024). 

This felt like an underwhelming return for the Flames after doing well in the Elias Lindholm trade a couple of weeks ago. There are still nine days until the trade deadline, so it feels like they could’ve done better if they held out a bit longer, especially since there was plenty of interest in him around the NHL. 

Stars Grade: C-

What Are the Devils Up To?

The Devils don’t get a grade here. Buying a draft pick, even if it’s in 2026, is a decent bit of business. But given their previous interest in Jacob Markström and a trade for him falling through, it’s interesting they’re a part of this deal. Perhaps they’re trying to get back in the good graces of Flames GM Craig Conroy to get the ball rolling again on a Markström trade. Time will tell on that ahead of the March 8 trade deadline. 

* * *

Advanced stats from Evolving Hockey