Tanev talked about the potential partnership after the signing, and the two had previously played international hockey together for Team Canada at the World Championships.
The two were paired up at the beginning of the season, just as we all expected. Eight games into the season, though, it changed as the Leafs swapped Rielly and Jake McCabe, uniting McCabe-Tanev as a true shutdown pairing—something that has historically eluded the Leafs, who have often gone into the playoffs needing to scrape one together.
Last season in the Bruins series, the Leafs tried to send the Benoit-McCabe pairing out against the David Pastrnak line as much as possible.