Spending on defending

Tanev headlines bolstered blue line, while Stolarz joins Woll in crease

- KEVIN MCGRAN

Chris Tanev, above, who led the playoffs with 73 blocked shots, signed with Toronto for six years and $27 million (U.S.). Also joining the Leafs are Oliver Ekman-Larsson, below right, and goalie Anthony Stolarz, both from the Stanley Cup-winning Panthers.

New Maple Leafs defenceman Chris Tanev is willing to sacrifice his body as much as anyone in the NHL.

His lack of front teeth suggests just that. So do the bumps and bruises he suffers as the season goes on. He is always at or near the top of the NHL in shots blocked. He’s sometimes called the Assistant to the Goalie.

Tanev’s desire to win started as kid growing up in East York.

“I’m always trying to win,” he said Monday in a video conference call with the Toronto media.

“I’ve been like that my whole life. I have two younger brothers, we grew up battling against each other, and that’s all we did — come home from school, play some kind of sport, hockey, basketball, soccer, wrestling, whatever it may be. And we always wanted to win and kill each other. I think it came from that.

“Winning is the ultimate goal. And that’s what I try to do every game that I play.”

Those attributes are a big part of the reason Tanev was the centrepiece of Leafs GM Brad Treliving’s spate of signings over the past two days, including re-upping Max Domi, Timothy Liljegren and Joseph Woll before the clock struck noon Monday.