Maple Leafs to look to give Zaitsev the fresh start he’s looking for
Elliotte Friedman: The Toronto Maple Leafs and Nikita Zaitsev are working together to find a fresh start for him.
Lance Hornby: Zaitsev’s agent Daniel Milstein won’t comment on Friedman’s report that the Leafs are looking for a way to move the defenseman.
Adam Kimelman of NHL.com: Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas said he will try to give Nikita Zaitsev the fresh start that he is looking for.
“That will be our goal, to try to find a fresh start for him, for his own personal and private reasons,” Dubas said at the 2019 NHL Scouting Combine.
Dubas has met with Zaitsev’s agent but wouldn’t comment on to why he’s looking to move on.
“I don’t want to speculate on their behalf,” Dubas said. “I think that’s for Dan and Nikita to address if they want to.”
Dubas added that this doesn’t mean they will trade him who noted that he’s one of their top four defensemen, is right-handed and his play improved with paired with Jake Muzzin.
Collection of tweets from McKenzie on Nikita Zaitsev and the Maple Leafs position if they moved him
Bob McKenzie: “It was Nikita Zaitsev who, for personal reasons, asked TOR today to try to facilitate a trade. He has five years remaining on a contract with an AAV of $4.5M. TOR will try to oblige Zaitsev but are not in a salary cap position to retain much, if any, salary.”
- “Zaitsev is a polarizing figure and in the short term, trying to make this deal could be problematic. He played big minutes under Mike Babcock. Current Leaf regime is not the one who signed him to the contract but it warmed up to him as a capable top-four minute D man.”
- “Jake Gardiner is not expected back. Travis Dermott is coming off shoulder surgery and won’t be available to start the season. Take Zaitsev out of the mix and there are holes. It will be interesting to see how they are filled and at what cost to the organization.”
- “It’s easy to say TOR would like to lose the longer-term financial commitment to Zaitsev, and perhaps that is true, but that contract could also limit the trade return on the player. His departure would create a hole on a blueline that already has holes.”
- “BTW, I could be wrong on this but I don’t believe the Leafs believe Liljegren and/or Sandin are ready to be full-time NHLers next season. We’ll see in training camp but to suggest one or both should be pencilled into the lineup is, IMO, a real reach.”
- “Since the league was made aware this morning of Zaitsev’s availability, there have been multiple inquiries but it remains to be seen how many teams expect TOR to retain salary or make a soft/limited return deal because of the term/$ owed him.”
- “And while this may present an opportunity to get creative and potentially free up some longer-term $, in the short term of starting next season without him, this has the potential to be problematic for TOR.”
Zaitsev may not enjoy his role with the Leafs
Igor Eronko: Nikita Zaitsev has asked for a trade as his role with the Maple Leafs wasn’t satisfying him because he’s more versatile. He’d also be okay with remaining with the Maple Leafs. He has a 10-team no-trade list.
Will Scouch: “Nikita Zaitsev is 1 of 117 NHL D >3,000 ES TOI over the last three years. Of those, he ranks:
86th in P1/60
86th in P/60
112th in ixGF/60
66th in xGF%
77th in xGF%rel
BUT, he was started in the DZ the 10th most, so maybe he was expecting more favourable OZ time?”