‘He’s a top-five beauty in the league’: Brock Boeser dishes on Chris Tanev

From the sounds of it, Brock Boeser sure misses playing with Chris Tanev.

The slick Vancouver Canucks sniper hopped on Tuesday’s edition of the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast for a laidback discussion about his NHL career to date, which included a healthy dose of Tanev talk.

Tanev and Boeser play very different games on the ice, but it certainly seems as though they hit it off during the four years they spent together in Vancouver in the late 2010s.

Boeser was quick to identify Tanev as a veteran player who made it easier for him to make the jump straight into the NHL from the collegiate ranks at the end of the 2016-17 season.

“He’s a weapon. He’s a top-five beauty in the league for sure,” Boeser said of his long-haired former teammate. “He’s a pro at everything. He was like a dad to me, Petey [Elias Pettersson], and Huggy [Quinn Hughes] when he was in Vancouver.”

Tanev helped the Canucks qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2020, skating on a pairing with Hughes as the team made it past the defending champion St. Louis Blues before losing in the second round.

The Canucks did not sign Tanev as an unrestricted free agent after that season, instead letting him leave for the Calgary Flames on a four-year deal. But with playoff hockey finally set to return to Vancouver, rumours have started to swirl about Tanev making a Canucks comeback.

It’s undeniably intriguing to consider the prospect of reuniting Hughes with his former partner. As Vancouver hockey insider Rick Dhaliwal has repeatedly pointed out over the last few weeks, the Canucks organization holds Tanev in the highest esteem.

“He’d always have us over for dinners and stuff,” Boeser said. “If all the boys are going out, he’ll go out and be the last one there with you and he’ll be the first in the gym the next day. You’d have no idea that he was out the night before.”

The Canucks are slated to return to action on Tuesday night to take on the Chicago Blackhawks at 5:30 p.m. PT.