Chris Tanev breaks his silence on how he'll fit in the Maple Leafs' blue line

"That's going to be the coach's call at the end of the day. I've done both throughout my career," Tanev explained. "I feel like I've played a couple of years ago with Quinn Hughes (with the Vancouver Canucks). I played a lot with Noah Hanifin in Calgary (with the Flames) and then playing with Esa.

"I think those are sort of three different, different styles of players. And I think we all had success together during the times we played together."

"I'm going to take a lot of D-zone face-offs against other teams' top players. I'm going to PK a lot. That's just sort of what my, my role in the league has evolved into," Tanev said.

"He's an amazing man, stand-up guy and most importantly, he wants to win just as bad as I do," Tanev said of Treliving. "(It) definitely did factor in my decision for sure. I have a great relationship with Tre and I'm happy to be here and working for him again."

"Obviously, Coach is a winner, he's won a Cup, he's played a long time in the league, he knows the game," said Tanev. "Right when Toronto traded for me, he was the first call that I got and he wanted to express how he felt about me and where I could play in the lineup and how I could help the team.

After signing, I met him last Wednesday and sat down for a bit and got to know each other a little bit. That's a big part of being successful, just to talk and communicate and he was awesome from the short time I've known him."