The defenseman said he expects to be sidelined 4-6 months after having surgery next week. Tanev sustained the injury in Game 6 of the Western Conference First Round against the Dallas Stars on May 13.
"We'll see how it goes," Tanev said Saturday. "After the surgery I'm sure our medical staff will have more of an update on how it went and more of an exact time frame. I did not have a sprained neck, and I had a dislocated shoulder, not a separated shoulder. My surgery is on my labrum, which is torn."
The 32-year-old missed four games before returning in Game 4 of the second round against the Edmonton Oilers. He was not expected to play but had an assist, his only point in eight Stanley Cup Playoff games this season, in 19:24 of ice time.
"Everyone wants to play every game, especially in the playoffs," Tanev said. "I'm not the first guy to play hurt and I'm not going to be the last. If I feel like I can get out there on the ice and try to help the team, that's what I would like to do."
Tanev played 22:08 in Game 5, fourth on the Flames behind Noah Hanifin (23:24), Rasmus Andersson (22:34) and Mikael Backlund (22:30). Calgary lost 5-4 in overtime and was eliminated in the best-of-7 series.
"When you lose good players, it has an impact," Flames general manager Brad Treliving said. "… When you take out Chris Tanev, you look at the minutes. You look at the situational minutes, penalty kill, hard [to] match against top players, so it certainly had an impact, but that's the playoffs."
Tanev had an NHL career-high 28 points (six goals, 22 assists) this season, playing a full 82 games for the first time in the NHL. It was his 12th NHL season and second with Calgary.
