So much of this Vancouver Canucks season has been about the here and now, with everything building to what the hockey club is hoping will be the first Stanley Cup in its 40 years of existence. But although the season’s focus has been on the climb to the top of the National Hockey League, the past two months have offered more than a glimpse of the future, too. And the Canucks appear to have unearthed a good one in rookie defenceman Christopher Tanev.

Unsigned as a college player a year ago, and unheralded at his first professional training camp last September, the 21-year-old has shown remarkable poise for a guy who was playing Junior A hockey in the Toronto area just two seasons back. Signed as a free agent after one year at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Tanev quickly worked his way up the Canucks minor-league depth chart and earned his first shot at the NHL when the team ran into a rash of injuries in mid-January.

Thrown into the fire at the NHL level, the smooth skater hasn’t looked out of place and has done his part to ensure that the Canucks maintain their hold on the top spot in the league standings. In fact, Tanev has kept things so simple and has been so positionally sound in his first two months in the big league that he has yet to spend a second in the penalty box.

That’s a fairly impressive feat for a young player who has been placed in tough situations—particularly on the road, where the Canucks can’t control the matchups.

“I’m a little surprised I haven’t got a trip or a hook or a hold,” the soft-spoken Tanev told the Georgia Straight after a recent practice at Rogers Arena. “I thought I’d been caught once or twice. You know, you put a stick in or you use your free hand out there. But I’m trying to stay out of the box because we’re so much more effective at even strength and on the power play. There are some big guys out there, and they’re a handful down low and in the corners, so it’s definitely a bit of a surprise to play this long without a penalty.”

Although aware of the fact, Tanev says he’s not playing in fear of spending two minutes in the box; he’s just using the tools he’s been blessed with to play within the rules. His hockey sense has allowed him to average almost 14 minutes a game (through his first 27 NHL contests), so it’s not as if the Canucks are spotting him or using him sparingly.

They’ve liked what they’ve seen so far, and it’s a safe bet that—based on Tanev’s cap-friendly salary ($900,000), his rapid development, and the fact that right-handed, puck-moving defencemen are a scarce commodity in the NHL—he’ll be a regular on the Canucks defence to start next season. Not bad for a guy whom virtually no one in the hockey world had heard of 12 months ago.

“He’s a young player that came up [and] has great hockey sense, both offensively and defensively, but he knows he’s got a lot of work to do off the ice to get to the NHL strength level as a defenceman,” head coach Alain Vigneault said of Tanev, who, despite standing 6-2, is still slight by league standards at 185 pounds. “He plays the game a little bit smarter,” Vigneault said. “Instead of trying to overpower a guy one-on-one in the corner, he’ll go in with good stick position, he’ll make sure he won’t get beat to the front of the net, and, when he gets the puck, he can move it north-south really quickly and gets out of trouble. He’s been real smart about what makes him a player that can contribute to our success, and he’s doing it.”

With Kevin Bieksa about to return from injury and fellow veterans Alexander Edler and Andrew Alberts to follow suit before the playoffs, Tanev will likely be out of a NHL job for the remainder of this season. The Canucks have their sights set on the Stanley Cup, and there’s just too much depth ahead of the rookie for him to remain in the lineup.

But Tanev has certainly made the most of what he figured at the time would be a week-long stay in the NHL. His call-up came on January 16, and he’s managed to remain in the lineup for every game, with the exception of one. Tanev isn’t sure what his immediate future holds, but he’s prepared to live with whatever the Canucks feel is best for his development.

“I packed for seven days and I’ve been up here for two months, so I’ve been living out of a little duffel bag, but that’s okay, I can handle that,” he said with a chuckle. “I’ve always been day-by-day since I got up here. I want to stick around as long as I can, but even if I get sent back down, this has been great, and I’ll go down and work as hard as I did up here. I’m not just a better hockey player but a better person. These guys in this room teach you how to be a real pro. You look around the room and you’re in awe of all the stars on this team and how good they are as players, but how nice they are, too.”

Tanev has enjoyed the opportunity he has been afforded, and the Vancouver Canucks are also pretty happy with the way things have panned out. Not only is there reason to think this team has a shot to do something special this season, but with a player like Tanev in the fold, the future looks bright as well.

Jeff Paterson is a talk show host on Vancouver’s all-sports radio Team 1040. Follow him on Twitter.