“Snake”: Matthew Tkachuk Drops Bold Comment on Former Teammate Anchoring Maple Leafs’ Defense

It’s not often that one gets called a snake as a compliment, but Chris Tanev was recently praised by former Calgary Flames teammate Matthew Tkachuk in this particular fashion. Despite Tkachuk netting no goals for the Florida Panthers this series, his rival, Chris Tanev, has been blocking shot after shot for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

In a statement posted to X earlier today, Matthew Tkachuk is said to have called the defenseman the “head of the snake” on Toronto’s back end. “He’s the head of the snake on their back-end, it’s no surprise to see what he’s doing now,” Tkachuk said, attributing Tanev with the central responsibility on that D line, words that Tanev surely finds encouraging while he recovers from whatever caused him to walk out of game 3, despite Berube insisting it was just something to do with equipment.

Matthew Tkachuk said this morning that Chris Tanev is someone he’s known well dating back to Calgary and he’s very impressed with the way he’s been playing for Toronto.

“He’s the head of the snake on their back-end, it’s no surprise to see what he’s doing now”

— Anna Dua (@AnnaNoelleDua) May 11, 2025

Chris Tanev has been a critical part of Toronto’s defense and is near the top of the league in shot blocking in the postseason. With Craig Berube saying, “Our team has really fed off of that side of what he brings to the table night in and night out throughout the year.” So Tkachuk is only mirroring the facts with his latest statement.

This is a developing story…

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