How to block shots like Chris Tanev, the Maple Leafs' 'Biscuit Eater'

They call him the Biscuit Eater for a reason: Chris Tanev eats a lot of biscuits.

Which translates from hockey slang to: He blocks a lot of shots.

Tanev has been hungrier than ever this season, his first with the Toronto Maple Leafs .

Hes on pace right now to block the most shots by any player since the league began tracking almost 20 years ago.

Tanev is averaging a ludicrous 3.5 blocked shots per game, putting him on pace for 285, which would just eke out Kris Russells single-season record of 283.

Advertisement It would also smash the Leafs single-season record by more than 100 (Carl Gunnarsson: 176) and obliterate Tanevs own single-season high of 207.

Tanev leads the NHL with 66 blocks in 19 games.

Just part of the game, Tanev said when asked why hes so willing to put his body on the line as a shot-blocking master.

I mean, I did get hurt a couple times and people were saying, Change your game! Change your game! But once you get in the battle, I think its just a split-second thing.

Except thats not exactly true, is it? Otherwise, everyone would block shots in droves as Tanev does.

And almost no one does.

Tanev was credited with eight blocked shots over the weekend in a win over Edmonton , tied for the most by an NHL player this season (and two off Tanevs game-high of 10).

Willingness.

Thats what it comes down to, Jake McCabe , Tanevs defensive partner, said.

No matter how you talk about it, its willingness.

Bottom line.

Sheer willingness, McCabe adds to emphasize the point.

Tanev is more willing to do it than just about anyone else.

Theres no secret, Simon Benoit , another Leafs defenceman, said.

If you want to, you will.

Why dont more players do it then? Because it really hurts, Benoit said.

Ill put you on your side and Ill just shoot a puck right here, on the inside of your knee, Benoit said, grinning.

Lets see how you feel.

McCabe suggested the uninitiated stand in a batting cage with no equipment to experience the feeling of standing in the way of a shot, which comes in at an average speed of almost 92 kilometres an hour.

We dont have any goalie equipment.

So you know its gonna f hurt, Benoit siad.

Like (McCabe) said, its just willingness.

And he has the vision.

You have to read the puck where the puck is going and make sure youre in a good line.

Other than that, its just a willingness to eat that puck.

Advertisement And suffer the consequences as a result.

Asked about the worst ones, the blocks that have hurt him the most, Tanev instantly recalls the two times he broke his leg.

Shea Weber actually hit me and it snapped my shin pad in half, he said.

Thankfully I was all right, but that was a pretty crazy one.

He weirdly doesnt mention the time last season when he blocked a shot with his face and didnt miss a game.

Earlier this season, Tanev boldly stepped in front of a Mika Zibanejad blast and paid the price.

It got him on the right leg.

Dead leg, is how he described it a few days later.

Not dead enough to knock Tanev out of the game though.

He missed only a few shifts.

Sometimes it hurts.

Sometimes you dont feel it, Tanev said.

If it gets you in a good spot, you dont feel anything.

Tanev has played over 800 NHL games.

It was in his early days with the Vancouver Canucks that he took notes on how defenders like Kevin Bieksa, Alex Edler, and Dan Hamhuis operated as shot blockers.

I block them a lot the same way, Tanev explained.

So Im usually like this, he said, mimicking the stance he often takes to block a shot, which sees him get down into a proper crouch.

Like how he blocked that shot against the Rangers essentially.

The plan is to get hit.

But your gear moves as you move, so if it gets you in a spot where theres a crease its gonna hurt you more than if it gets you straight on your shin pad, Tanev said.

Benoit wondered aloud about all the goals Tanev was saving with his shot-blocking heroics.

Say Tanev blocked 100 shots per year, Benoit said.

So lets say you have one shot that goes in (if its not blocked) every 10 shots.

Thats like 10, 15, 20 goals a year that he saves.

Advertisement But of course, Tanev is on pace to block nearly three times as many shots this season.

So how many goals saved is that? And as Benoit notes, many of Tanevs blocks come when hes killing penalties.

Shot quality is higher when the opposition is on a power play.

And indeed, Tanev has blocked a league-leading 21 shots this season while his team has been shorthanded.

Hes probably saving as many goals as some other players would score goals, Benoit said.

True warrior.

The Athletics Dom Luszczyszyn checked on Benoits theory.

He suggested that the difference between a player who blocked 208 shots (his projection for Tanev) and the average player who blocked 125 was about 1.3 goals.

That means Tanev is saving just over a goal per season over the average player.

That seems quite low.

Tanev has not a clue how many shots he has blocked in his career.

The current regular-season number is 1,718, which puts him 22nd all time, though hell soon pass Zbynek Michalek (1,719).

Tanev has at least one blocked shot in every game this season and has stepped in front of four or more eight times already.

Only a handful of players in the league have registered more shots than Tanev has blocked.

Hes blocking almost 11 per 60 minutes so far, easily the top mark this season.

Tanev knew that former Leafs defenceman Mark Giordano held the all-time shot-blocking crown, with 2,164.

The length of Tanevs career will probably determine whether or not he catches Giordano, though for what its worth, Tanev has out-blocked Giordano in his minutes.

He ranks sixth all-time (since tracking began in 2005-06), among those with at least 500 games with 6.36 blocks per 60 minutes.

I want to win, Tanev said, brushing off any shot-blocking glory, so if thats gonna help then thats what I do.

(Top photo: Claus Andersen / Getty Images).

This article has been shared from the original article on theathleticuk, here is the link to the original article.