On the Toronto Maple Leafs and Nikita Zaitsev …
Michael Augello: Bob McKenzie is reporting that the Toronto Maple Leafs are closing in on a seven-year contract extension for defenseman Nikita Zaitsev.
Elliotte Friedman: Hearing the Maple Leafs and Zaitsev closing in on a seven-year with a cap hit of $4.5 million.
Once signed, it would give the Maple Leafs six defensemen under contract for next season.
They have Morgan Rielly signed 2021-22 at a $5 million cap hit and Jake Gardiner at $4.05 million through 2018-19. With one year left are Alexey Marchenko ($1.45 million), Martin Marincin ($1.25 million) and Connor Carrick ($750,000).
The Leafs currently have 18 players under contract for next year at a projected $56.6 million.
With reports that #Leafs & Zaitsev are close on a 7 year/$4.5M AAV extension, here are some comparables based on Status, GP, Pts, Term & AAV pic.twitter.com/uyi98m0fBR
— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) March 31, 2017
Best defensemen by GAR.
Zaitsev is 41st, so that's #2 dman range. The money part isn't the killer. It's the term – an entire age curve. pic.twitter.com/Hdthaq61kW— Sean Tierney (@ChartingHockey) March 31, 2017
