Nick Blankenburg Gets His Shot as Chris Tanev Goes on IR

Nick Blankenburg moves up as Tanev lands on IR

The Toronto Maple Leafs placed Chris Tanev on injured reserve on Oct. 11 and recalled defenceman Marshall Rifai from the AHL's Toronto Marlies. The move confirms what the Denver game already suggested: Nick Blankenburg, a training-camp tryout who sat out the first five games, is now a regular, and for at least the next three games he is the right-shot defenceman beside Morgan Rielly on Toronto's second pair.

Blankenburg earned the look in about three minutes. In his Leafs debut on Oct. 10 at Colorado, against the club he finished last season with, he jumped up from the point, took a cross-ice feed from William Nylander and beat the goalie short side over the glove at 3:03 of the first period. The Leafs said it was the fourth-fastest goal from the start of a player's team debut in franchise history, behind Gus Bodnar, Doug Gilmour and Daniel Marois. When Tanev left at 11:08 of the first, Blankenburg took his minutes and played more than 16 of them, per postgame coverage, in a 6-3 win.

One good night does not make a top-four defenceman. But it is the right moment to look at who Toronto is now leaning on, and how long it can lean.

The Tanev injury and the IR clock

Tanev left the Colorado game after five shifts and 3:29 of ice time with an upper-body injury. The club has not described the injury further. Under NHL rules a player on injured reserve must miss at least seven days from the date of the injury, which rules him out of Tuesday's game in Utah, Thursday's home game against Buffalo and, at minimum, puts the Oct. 17 home game against the New York Islanders as his earliest possible return.

That is the floor, not a forecast. Tanev is 36, played only 11 games last season before core-muscle surgery, and is the defenceman Toronto built its penalty kill around. We went through the wider consequences in what the Tanev injury means for the Maple Leafs' defence. This piece is about the man taking his spot.

Rifai is the insurance. The 28-year-old has four penalty minutes in three games with the Marlies this season and has played three NHL games since 2023-24, one of them for Toronto last season. He is a seventh defenceman whose job is to be available, not to push for minutes.

Who is Nick Blankenburg?

Blankenburg's route to the NHL was long even by the standards of undrafted players. Coverage of his career, including a Hockey News feature on his time as a Zamboni driver, tells the story of a player who was cut twice by NAHL teams and moved from forward to defence after landing on a AAA club. He captained the University of Michigan and led the Wolverines to the Frozen Four in his senior year, went undrafted, and signed with Columbus. He made his NHL debut on April 13, 2022, and his first NHL goal was a power-play winner against Edmonton.

Here is the path that brought him to Toronto:

TeamSeasonsHow he got thereRoleColumbus Blue Jackets2021-22 to 2023-24Free agent out of MichiganDepth defencemanNashville Predators2024-25 to March 2026Two-year deal signed July 1, 2024Mostly second pairColorado AvalancheMarch 2026 to end of 2025-26Traded March 4, 2026, for a 2027 fifth-round pickSeventh defencemanToronto Maple Leafs2026-27Camp tryout, then one-year, $1.4M deal on Sept. 27Seventh, now top four

His 2025-26 numbers are the most useful guide. He had six goals and 21 points in 49 games for Nashville before the trade, and finished with eight goals and 24 points in 61 games between the two clubs. For a defenceman on a cheap contract, that is real production. Colorado used him sparingly after the deadline, which is how he ended up on the open market.

What he brings, and what he does not

Blankenburg is a mobile, puck-moving right shot who likes to join the rush. The debut goal was a clean example: he read that the play was coming to his side, stepped up from the blue line and finished like a forward. That is a skill set Toronto's defence lacks. Darren Raddysh is the only other right shot in the lineup who drives offence, and Troy Stecher is a steady third-pair defender, not a play-driver.

What Blankenburg is not is a Tanev replacement. Tanev's value is in the things that never reach the scoresheet: the shot he blocks, the forward he pins to the wall, the clear he makes on the third attempt of a penalty kill. Blankenburg is a smaller, more offensive player, and a pair of Rielly and Blankenburg will spend more time trying to create than to defend. Against Colorado, that worked. Against heavier teams, it carries risk.

Here is the defence Hiller is most likely to use while Tanev is out, with cap figures from the LeafsLurker contracts page:

PairLeftRightCombined cap hitFirstJake McCabeDarren RaddyshAbout $13.0MSecondMorgan RiellyNick BlankenburgAbout $8.9MThirdOliver Ekman-LarssonTroy StecherAbout $4.85MExtraMarshall Rifai—Recalled Oct. 11

The case for giving Blankenburg real minutes

Our view: Hiller should treat the next three games as a proper audition and not hide Blankenburg on the third pair. Move him up with Rielly, give him second-unit power-play time and let him play through mistakes. There are two reasons.

The first is information. GM John Chayka has said defence is the area he could look to improve, and Toronto has been linked to right-shot defencemen since camp, including Calgary's Zach Whitecloud, whom we argued is the shutdown defenceman the Leafs should get. Before Chayka spends assets, he needs to know whether a $1.4-million depth signing can hold a top-four spot for stretches. Three games will not answer that fully, but they will tell him a lot.

The second is cost. Blankenburg's one-year deal is the cheapest kind of solution, with no term and no long-term cap consequence. If he proves he can handle 18 to 20 minutes a night on the second pair, the trade target changes from a top-four defenceman to a true shutdown partner for Raddysh, which is a cheaper and easier thing to buy.

The penalty kill without Tanev

The obvious test is short-handed. Toronto killed all five Colorado power plays in Denver with Tanev gone for all but the first 11 minutes, and the kill was one of the better stories of the first week, as we noted in our look at the early penalty kill. The Utah Mammoth bring a power play that was described as nearly unstoppable in their first week, and Buffalo follows two days later.

Expect Hiller to lean on McCabe, Raddysh, Stecher and Ekman-Larsson for most of that work and to give Blankenburg a smaller short-handed role while he settles in. If Toronto's kill holds up in Utah, it is a sign the structure is sound without its best defender. If it leaks, the clock on a trade speeds up.

What's next

The Leafs play at Utah on Oct. 13, a 9 p.m. Eastern start on the NHL's Frozen Frenzy night, then return home for Buffalo on Oct. 15 and the Islanders on Oct. 17. Tanev's status will be clearer by the end of that run. When he is healthy, Blankenburg likely goes back to being the seventh defenceman, and that is fine. A seventh defenceman who can score, move the puck and fill a top-four spot without the team falling apart is exactly what a club with a 36-year-old defensive anchor needs.

Blankenburg was a healthy scratch for the first five games and, per The Leafs Nation, came out of his debut unfazed by the wait. He now has a short window to show he belongs above that line. One goal in his first game was a good start.