D
uring pre-season training camp in September, Reilly and his wife, Tessa Virtue, had some of Reilly’s Maple Leaf teammates and their partners over for dinner. The group included Tanev and his wife Kendra, who he met at RIT. Tanev asked questions about how life is for Reilly and Virtue with a newborn and he helped clean up after dinner. He and Kendra are expecting their second child in November, and Tanev talked about their nearly two-year-old son, Bobby, whose name is on a beaded bracelet he wears around his wrist.
“After everyone left, my wife said she was a big fan of his, because he’s got that polite, soft-spoken side to him, in a really endearing way. He’s really sweet,” Reilly says. “I don’t want to make him — you know, I want him to be a big, tough hockey player. But he takes his son to the park. He’s got a really nice way about him. When I talk to him in the morning, I ask him how his night was and he asks about me, and he’s got really nice and thoughtful questions.”
Reilly’s early impressions come as no surprise to Hanifin, who had Tanev at his wedding this past summer and calls his pal “a phenomenal, phenomenal person.”
“Whenever he’s talking to you or anybody, he truly cares about you and all of his teammates, the trainers, the staff,” Hanifin says. “When he goes into the room, that’s something everybody notices about him and that’s why he’s so good to have for a culture. He’s a very genuine person.”
Adds Lack, who played with Tanev for four seasons, including two with the Canucks: “I think everyone around him says the same thing: Chris is one of the favourite teammates for a lot of players.” And now that the defender is in his hometown, Lack expects Tanev to thrive. “I think you’re gonna see the best of him because now he’s finally home, and I know he’s been looking to play in Toronto for a while,” he says.