Report: Penguins likely to pursue Canucks' Tanev if he tests market

The Pittsburgh Penguins may try to add a second Tanev brother to the fold this offseason.

Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford is expected to pursue Vancouver Canucks defenseman Christopher Tanev by attempting to shed enough cap space to sign him, league and team sources told The Athletic's Rob Rossi and Josh Yohe. Pittsburgh has reportedly made adding a right-shooting blue-liner a priority.

Rutherford isn't opposed to offering the rearguard a five-year contract that would last as long as the pact he agreed to with Tanev's younger brother, Brandon, a team source told Rossi and Yohe.

The elder Tanev, who will turn 31 in December, is a pending unrestricted free agent. The 2019-20 campaign was the final season of the five-year, $22.25-million deal he inked with the Canucks in 2015. That agreement carried a $4.45-million cap hit, and the defenseman is reportedly seeking a raise. However, the Penguins would prefer not to sign off on a deal with a cap hit over $5 million.

Tanev said in June that he'd love to play his whole career with Vancouver. He's spent all 10 of his NHL campaigns with the Canucks, who signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2010.

The Penguins reeled in Brandon Tanev with a six-year, $21-million contract in July 2019. The 28-year-old forward posted 11 goals and 25 points in his first campaign with the club.

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