Friedman: Nikita Zaitsev has requested a trade from Toronto

[Riellyfan04]

Another Russian playing not caring to win.... he has the best chance to win here and doesnt want to stay lol

 

[ChaoticOrange]

How about 10 firsts, Marner and Liljegren? That should be enough to take the worst player in NHL history.

Oh, yes, sure, right, you guys are the victims now.

Would you take Russell for free, or give up assets for him? No, probably not. Now extend his deal by three years and have him demanding a trade. That’s what you’ve got on your hands. You ARE likely going to have to give up something of value to move him, especially at full cap hit.

 

[sharks9]

Another Russian playing not caring to win.... he has the best chance to win here and doesnt want to stay lol

Maybe he wants to be on a team that occasionally plays past the first round?

 

[Empoleon8771]

You’re clueless when it comes to the leafs and it shows. Why the hell would we make that deal? We need space now go sign Marner & co. What does cap space 2 years from now matter? Idiotic.

Who are these teams that are going to take a reclamation project with 5 years left on his deal without sending money back? This really isn't a difficult question. What teams:

1. Have a hole for a RD
2. Have the cap space to add Zaitsev, both now and in the long run

It shouldn't be a hard question to answer if he was so easily movable.

Oh, yes, sure, right, you guys are the victims now.

Would you take Russell for free, or give up assets for him? No, probably not. Now extend his deal by three years and have him demanding a trade. That’s what you’ve got on your hands. You ARE likely going to have to give up something of value to move him, especially at full cap hit.

It's honestly amazing to me. Zaitsev is 28, coming off of 2 bad years in a row and is signed long term at top-4 D money. Why would any team trade for him without sending any money back? I honestly can't think of any guys in Zaitsev's position that were traded without sending salary back.

 

[DatsyukToZetterberg]

I'm not a leafs fan, just to clear the air, but I don't think that's true.

There are other bad contracts in the NHL, he could be moved for one of them. For instance, I would trade for him for Alzner straight up right now as a Habs fan.

On top of this, Sandin has been marked as an unmovable piece by a number of sources, so I don't think it would be him.

I think Zaitsev + a 2nd is enough, Mainly because I think Zaitsev + a 1st is too much, and some desperate team would be willing to take less to take him on.

Whether or not any of us agree with the assessment, he was thought of as a top4D not too long ago.

Alzner for Zaitsev+2nd may well be closer to fair value but that isn't a straight salary dump. Alzner was more of a help to his NHL team this year than Zaitsev was and he didn't even play in the NHL. Just because Zaitsev was playing top 4 minutes it doesn't make him a top 4 D. He may have been thought of as a top 4 D, but he was not playing those minutes well and has been an anchor at 5v5. He has proven that at ES he's unable to generate offence and while he does play tougher minutes defensively he doesn't show an ability to limit scoring chances against either. He's kind of like an inning's eating starter in the MLB. These players have value it's just limited and they're not expensive to sign. If Zaitsev was making 1.5-2.5M this wouldn't be an issue, alas he's making nearly double or triple that.

Unless the Leafs can find a sucker to take on his contract, they will need to move a valuable asset with him to entice a team to take on his contract. Something like Sandin/2020 1st/Liljegren will need to be included with additional pieces. It cost the Hawks 2 good young players to move Hossa's contract and Arizona was able to put him onto LTIR, it will cost the leafs at least that and likely more to move Zaitsev.

 

[Rants Mulliniks]

Alzner for Zaitsev+2nd may well be closer to fair value but that isn't a straight salary dump. Alzner was more of a help to his NHL team this year than Zaitsev was and he didn't even play in the NHL. Just because Zaitsev was playing top 4 minutes it doesn't make him a top 4 D. He may have been thought of as a top 4 D, but he was not playing those minutes well and has been an anchor at 5v5. He has proven that at ES he's unable to generate offence and while he does play tougher minutes defensively he doesn't show an ability to limit scoring chances against either. He's kind of like an inning's eating starter in the MLB. These players have value it's just limited and they're not expensive to sign. If Zaitsev was making 1.5-2.5M this wouldn't be an issue, alas he's making nearly double or triple that.

Unless the Leafs can find a sucker to take on his contract, they will need to move a valuable asset with him to entice a team to take on his contract. Something like Sandin/2020 1st/Liljegren will need to be included with additional pieces. It cost the Hawks 2 good young players to move Hossa's contract and Arizona was able to put him onto LTIR, it will cost the leafs at least that and likely more to move Zaitsev.

Leafs won't be moving Sandin or Liljegren in such a deal.

Wet dream.

 

[sparxx87]

But everyone is saying that it's widely known that Zaitsev is coming off a bad year and is signed to a big contract. So again, why is another team not sending out money to bring in Zaitsev? Someone may view him as a middle pair shutdown D, but his contract is very significant for a guy who's established to be coming off a down year.

I think Florida would be an example of a team interested in him, but why would they take Zaitsev at full salary when they're trying to sign Panarin and Bobrovsky? I think Edmonton could be interested too, but where are they going to get the money for Zaitsev? I can keep going on like this.

Widely known by who? The analytics community? HF boards?

This guy.

Have you ever actually watched this player? I don’t mean Leaf hi lights, I mean watch Nikita Zaitsev on the ice? Watched what he’s doing in relation to his responsibilities?

It really doesn’t seem like you know much about this player.

 

[Liferleafer]

that doesn't even make any sense. sen's are crap now because of melnyk's cheapness. don't act like they never had any good players. that's like me saying the leafs in 2000's and until recently (until matthews/marner/etc came) were complete trash

They were complete trash....

 

[LeafsLegendAkiBerg]

Oh, yes, sure, right, you guys are the victims now.

Would you take Russell for free, or give up assets for him? No, probably not. Now extend his deal by three years and have him demanding a trade. That’s what you’ve got on your hands. You ARE likely going to have to give up something of value to move him, especially at full cap hit.

Whoa dude, relax, it was a joke. I just think it was funny that you think it would take multiple first and multiple top prospects for the Leafs to unload Zaitsev. Zaitsev's contract isn't great, but it's not that bad. I think whomever gets him will be pleasantly surprised and if the Leafs end up retaining cap or taking another bad contract, it wont sting so much.

 

[Liferleafer]

You probably don't even realize that you just paid the Sens fans a compliment...

I meant to compliment him, that was the point.

 

[Funk21]

Voynov for Zaitsev

Happily, I can deal with a wife beater not shoddy D.......

I am sooo kidding. Can’t see Kings wanting to take another TML cast off. Phaneuf is already hurting them.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Widely known by who? The analytics community? HF boards?

This guy.

Have you ever actually watched this player? I don’t mean Leaf hi lights, I mean watch Nikita Zaitsev on the ice? Watched what he’s doing in relation to his responsibilities?

It really doesn’t seem like you know much about this player.

It's cute how you think this refutes my point. If Zaitsev was so good, why wouldn't Toronto tell him that he has to stay? Toronto sucks on RD already and if Zaitsev is this good, you'd imagine that they wouldn't want to give him up.

Everyone can see through your shtick, you know. You trying to pimp up a bad player counts for nothing when pretty much every other fan knows Zaitsev isn't very good. I still like how I haven't gotten an example of a team that would trade for Zaitsev and not send any salary back.

 

[Michel Beauchamp]

They were complete trash....

Some of these 2000s teams at least succeeded in winning some playoff rounds...

 

[Michel Beauchamp]

I meant to compliment him, that was the point.

I'll take that statement with a grain of salt.

 

[DatsyukToZetterberg]

Leafs won't be moving Sandin or Liljegren in such a deal.

Wet dream.

Then the Leafs won't be moving Zaitsev with 0 salary coming back. I don't think anyone can objectively look at his body of work over the past 3 seasons and say "I'd love to have him on my team for another 5 years and pay him 4.5 per season". He hasn't performed at the level of 3rd pairing defenceman and he's supposed to have positive trade value?

 

[DownGoesMcDavid]

Another Russian playing not caring to win.... he has the best chance to win here and doesnt want to stay lol

How does he have the best chance to win there ? What if he gets traded to Tampa or Vegas etcc..

Leafs roster is also unknown right now with Marner contract impending Gardiner probably gone ..Dermott major surgery..etc..

 

[ChaoticOrange]

Whoa dude, relax, it was a joke. I just think it was funny that you think it would take multiple first and multiple top prospects for the Leafs to unload Zaitsev. Zaitsev's contract isn't great, but it's not that bad. I think whomever gets him will be pleasantly surprised and if the Leafs end up retaining cap or taking another bad contract, it wont sting so much.

It was a joke dude, whoa relax.

The point is you can’t just dump him in front of some other GM’s arena and drive away laughing. It will highly likely cost something to move him, especially since you want to do it with no money whatsoever coming back.

Let’s not overlook that he said some fairly unkind things lately as well and a trade request doesn’t exactly do wonders for value. Couple that with Toronto’s biggest need being right handed defencemen and their only RHD of any consequence wants out... it’s not just the contract vs the player that’s leading me to believe his value is likely negative. Not enormously so, but Zaitsev+1st for 2nd realm.

 

[sparxx87]

It's cute how you think this refutes my point. If Zaitsev was so good, why wouldn't Toronto tell him that he has to stay? Toronto sucks on RD already and if Zaitsev is this good, you'd imagine that they wouldn't want to give him up.

Everyone can see through your shtick, you know. You trying to pimp up a bad player counts for nothing when pretty much every other fan knows Zaitsev isn't very good. I still like how I haven't gotten an example of a team that would trade for Zaitsev and not send any salary back.

I don’t know what’s going on there. It seems a little chaotic since Robin took over.

What I can tell you unequivocally is that moving Nikita Zaitsev opens up a big hole on their blue line and this is just another sad story of a Toronto athlete being run out of town by the fans and media.


If they trade him, which they’d be foolish to do, I’m sure you’ll be one of those down the line with “lolz Leafs have no d and gave away a good one”.

Any questions or concerns, refer to the Phil Kessel situation. Enjoy your evening.

 

[Liferleafer]

Some of these 2000s teams at least succeeded in winning some playoff rounds...

Against the Sens.....

 

[Antropovsky]

Did he request it? Or did they both agree that a trade probably is best?

Isn’t there a difference?

 

[Liferleafer]

I'll take that statement with a grain of salt.

Let me pass you the shaker...

 

[Nothingbutglass]

Who plays RD next year if Zaitsev is moved? They already need a RD partner for Rielly, and Zaitsev was solid with Muzzin against the Bruins at least. How do you get 2 top 4 RD in one off-season?

 

[LeafsLegendAkiBerg]

Just FYI people, Dubas said that it's not guaranteed that Zaitsev will be traded and that he might play this season. Leafs obviously would like to trade a guy who's not happy but anyone dreaming of the Leafs giving up their farm to get rid of him are probably going to be sad.

 

[93gilmour93]

Who plays RD next year if Zaitsev is moved? They already need a RD partner for Rielly, and Zaitsev was solid with Muzzin against the Bruins at least. How do you get 2 top 4 RD in one off-season?

We can and we will

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

I have a feeling when Babs' contract is up Keefe takes over the reins of the Leafs coaching staff.