Leafs gain a bit of flexibility following recent roster move, and it could benefit them greatly

Injured against the Detroit Red Wings on December 28th, Chris Tanev's season continues to be disrupted by injuries.

Initially thought to be a tweak, Leafs head coach Craig Berube explained this week that the veteran blueliner would miss some time with a groin injury.

Optimism for a return before the end of the regular season was seemingly destroyed on Sunday when the official diagnosis for Tanev was revealed to be far worse than expected by The Fourth Period's Dave Pagnotta.

On Sunday, Pagnotta revealed that Tanev is meeting with surgeons over the next few weeks to decide the best course of action. If he elects to have surgery, he will be out for the remainder of the regular season, with a return date speculated somewhere between the end of April and May.

Losing Tanev is undoubtedly a massive loss for the Leafs, but for the optimists out there, his injury comes with a silver lining -- LTIR cap space.

Tanev will be placed on long-term injured reserve at some point, unable to return for the rest of the regular season, the Leafs would gain $3.8M (last year's average salary) in cap space to use ahead of the deadline.

Why only $3.8M when his total salary is $4.5M you ask? That is due to the new LTIR rules. In order for a team to be able to use their full salary as cap relief, the player must be deemed ineligible to play in the playoffs as well as the regular season.

With the Leafs having long been linked to Rasmus Andersson in Calgary, the time might be right to strike, if Tanev's injury takes him out for the entire 2nd half of the season.

It seems the Leafs are hopeful he will return for the post-season. However, if the Leafs do deem him ineligible for the playoffs ahead of the deadline, the Leafs would be just $50K shy of being able to take on all of Andersson's full salary without retention.

What it means for GM Brad Treliving and the Leafs is that they can be more aggressive in their trade targets and acquire players that carry a little more salary without having to worry about paying extra for retention.

Unfortunately, without Tanev, the Leafs now need to add a second defenseman to their wish list that already includes a top-six forward and puck-moving defenseman -- a tall task for a team with very few tradeable assets.

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