Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube just shared his first impressions of Chris Tanev, revealing how he really feels about the veteran blueliner. <a href='https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/40473679/maple-leafs-defenseman-chris-tanev-reach-6-year-contract' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>Tanev was the crown jewel of Brad Treliving's offseason this summer, committing to Toronto for the rest of his career. </a> With a six-year contract, we can assume the 34-year-old will be finishing his career in Toronto unless he is traded for whatever reason, but that seems highly unlikely at this point. The deal should be good for the next couple of seasons, but as Tanev approaches 40 things could start to fall apart for him. <div align='center' style='padding-top:20px;padding-bottom:20px;'><img src='https://i.marqueur.com/habsetlnh/i/photo/481769.webp' width='100%' border='0' alt='image' loading='lazy' defer /></div> <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/JFreshHockey/status/1807783216683618401'> </a></blockquote></div> Luckily for Tanev and the rest of the Leafs, the team is in win-now mode, so his age is not as big of a factor as it would be on other teams. If the Leafs win more than one round in the playoffs this year, fans will already be calling his contract a success. And with his leadership qualities and playoff experience, Tanev might just be the exact player the team needs to get over the hump. Here is what Craig Berube had to say about him. <q>First of all, the character jumps out at me right away. He is a character guy and a team guy. He lays it on the line out there blocking shots. The details in his game are really good. Solid defender and penalty killer. We can play him against top lines on other teams, and he does a really good job there. He is a second and third-effort guy.</q> <div align='center' style='padding-top:20px;padding-bottom:20px;'><img src='https://i.marqueur.com/habsetlnh/i/photo/481770.webp' width='100%' border='0' alt='image' loading='lazy' defer /></div> <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1839465455305609670'> </a></blockquote></div> Last season, Tanev had 2 goals and 19 points in 75 games split between the Calgary Flames and Dallas Stars. Those numbers are not particularly impressive, but he is known for his defense rather than offense. In 19 games in the playoffs last season, Tanev lead the Stars in plus/minus with +7 despite the fact that he was heavily relied upon in high-pressure situations. That is exactly the same way Berube will use him in Toronto as he's shown time and time again that he has what it takes to hold onto leads late in games. All the Leafs have to do now is build a lead in playoff games, something that has been difficult for them in the past few years.