Penguins A to Z: Brandon Tanev continues to provide a (turbo) charge

As the NHL prepares for a new season scheduled to start in mid-January, the Tribune-Review will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 48 individuals under NHL contract with the organization, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to high-profile trade acquisition Jason Zucker.

Brandon Tanev

Position: Left winger

Shoots: Left

Age: 29

Height: 6-foot

Weight: 180 pounds

2019-20 NHL statistics: 68 games, 25 points (11 goals, 14 assists)

Contract: Second year of a six-year contract with a salary cap hit of $3.5 million. Pending unrestricted free agent in 2025.

Acquired: Unrestricted free agent signing July 1, 2019

Last season: Brandon Tanev is something of an anomaly in the NHL.

Not because he took a hard-scrabble path to the league as an undrafted free agent out of the NCAA ranks with Providence.

And certainly not because he has a lengthy contract.

What makes Tanev unique in this league is pretty clear.

He has a cool nickname.

“Turbo.”

Typically, most hockey nicknames are some variation of a player’s last name. Whether it be shortening a name to one syllable and pluralizing it (i.e. “Jarrs”) or expanding a single syllable with a “y,” (i.e. “Rusty”), hockey nicknames tend to lack even a particle of imagination.

But for “Turbo,” he has been blessed with a fantastic nickname that is equally evocative and fitting.

In his first season with the Penguins, Tanev lived up to that description as well as the contract he received in the 2019 offseason, the longest such deal the Penguins have granted to an unrestricted free agent.

After some early tinkering with line combinations, Tanev, who occasionally goes by the dull “Tans,” eventually settled in for the bulk of the season on the fourth-but-really third line. Listed as left winger, Tanev surged up and down the right wing with the steady Teddy Blueger at center and the adaptable Zach Aston-Reese on left wing.

Even when injuries ravaged the rest of the forward ranks, coach Mike Sullivan rarely broke that trio up, having been satisfied with the cohesion they had established and routinely sicked that line on the opposition’s top scoring line.

Tanev wasn’t brought in to generate much offense, but on the limited occasions he did find a goal, they tended to be important scores. His four game-winning goals were second most on the team.

In addition to his furious five-on-five offerings, Tanev also established himself as one of the Penguins’ top penalty killers, averaging 2 minute, 12 seconds of short-handed ice time per game, third most on the team.

During the Penguins’ four-game postseason, their celebrated fourth line struggled at times with a Montreal Canadiens team that was short on skill but strong in spirit. During Game 1 of their preliminary round series, that line was on the ice for two of Montreal’s goals, including the winner in a 3-2 overtime loss.

The future: In the final days of the team’s training camp, Tanev and Blueger were broken up — Aston-Reese has been sidelined because of offseason shoulder surgery — with Tanev being promoted to the third line, skating alongside his former college roommate, Mark Jankowski, at center and Jared McCann on the left wing.

Given the nature of the upcoming season being played during a pandemic, the every line combination, defensive pairing and special teams unit likely will be fluid. Partially because of that, the Penguins seem to be far more open to moving Tanev around to balance the lineup than they were last season.

A classic energy player, Tanev, whom teammate Evgeni Malkin suggested is the fastest in the NHL, will continue to lead the (turbo) charge for the Penguins in 2020-21.

Follow the Penguins all season long.