Friedman: Nikita Zaitsev has requested a trade from Toronto

[Canucks1096]

I honestly don’t know how Toronto resolves their situation and keeps Marner, but just getting rid of Zaitsev still isn’t gonna get it done.

Leafs have 17 players signed with about 8 million cap space. Horton on IR that is 13 million. So 13 million for remaining 7 players.

Marner 10 M
AJ 3 M
Kapanen 3 M
Remaining 4 players low/entry level deals 4 M

=20 Million

They need to clear another 7 million or so

 

[flamesforcup]

He has more value than people here are giving him credit for. I can easily see him turning back into a top 4 dman as soon as next year.

 

[Favin]

There are 27 days before Marner can talk to other teams. Someone is bound to offer Marner more $$ than Leafs can afford.

So if Leafs take a loss, where do they take it? Losing a cap-dump trade or losing Marner?

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Probably. I think that would be a good deal for both sides.

Frees up 6 mil or so for Toronto.. they get a high 2nd rounder to potentially use to help bring in some defensive help... and shore isn't the greatest player but he has decent versatility(can play all 3 forward positions) and can be a decent add in their bottom 6.

for Anaheim
AJ/kapanen give us another offensive threat for our top 9, and Zaitsev can play in an easier atmosphere, with less pressure from media/fans in anaheim and hopefully find his game a bit.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

I wouldn't be one bit surprised if he ends up in Ottawa they do need to reach the cap floor just depends on what else Toronto needs to send over

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Players with NTC's dont have to be protected.

for some reason I thought his was NMC... and was part of the reason his contract gets so much hate... then I don't mind that much at all if we were to buy low and hope he pans out to a decnt player with less pressure in Anaheim.

 

[justafan22]

Yeah, they're going to have to move some cap around, and there's really only two candidates unless Marleau changes heart on waiving.

There are very few teams with a chance of winning the Cup that would be willing to take on Marleau's $6M. If I'm one of those teams, in realization of that, I'd be demanding a hefty price.

Zaitsev is easier to trade than Marleau for a host of reasons.

 

[elitepete]

My point is, there will probably be worse deals signed in Free Agency this season, then what Zaitsev’s deal is. Zaitsev is a guy that traditional hockey folks love and 80% of GM’s are traditional based.

Lou loved Zaitsev. Babcock likes Zaitsev. Is it really that hard to believe there isn’t coaches or GMs around the league that also sees value in Zaitsev and may jump at the chance to add him for a low cost, especially if TOR tags in a prospect?

Frankly, it can go either way. Toronto got out of the Clarkson deal. They got out of the Phaneuf deal.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up in Vancouver and Toronto takes back Ryan Spooner or Tim Schaller or something

More like Loui Eriksson

 

[leeroggy]

He played on top4 for Toronto and did it better vs Bruins, than Columbus superstar defensmen and especially Slavin and others from Carolina...

Yep, one series cancels out the ENTIRE rest of the year and future years . . Maybe the KHL should trade for him? You could send some borscht and Faberge eggs in return.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

?? Everyone treats Zaitsev like a cap dump. Suprised you think he would be a great add to the Canucks defense core.

Probably because Tanev misses 20+ games every year.

 

[justafan22]

My point is, there will probably be worse deals signed in Free Agency this season, then what Zaitsev’s deal is. Zaitsev is a guy that traditional hockey folks love and 80% of GM’s are traditional based.

Lou loved Zaitsev. Babcock likes Zaitsev. Is it really that hard to believe there isn’t coaches or GMs around the league that also sees value in Zaitsev and may jump at the chance to add him for a low cost, especially if TOR tags in a prospect?

Frankly, it can go either way. Toronto got out of the Clarkson deal. They got out of the Phaneuf deal.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up in Vancouver and Toronto takes back Ryan Spooner or Tim Schaller or something

There's a deal to be made.

The Leafs won't get anything of great value back, but there's one to be made.

 

[Michael HOMERUNing]

 

[Zirakzigil]

No surprise here. The question is what kind of salary will the Leafs be getting back.

 

[thethirdhockeyman91]

zaitsev + Johnsson or kapanen for shatty and Kreider

 

[Empoleon8771]

Lololololololololololol

They're painting this as Zaitsev asking out and that the Leafs like him like a top-4 D, what a crock of ****

 

[bleedgreen]

While I think he’s a more useful player than Lucic, that contract is in the same neighborhood of moveable. You’ve gotta be taking something equally painful back. I don’t know of many equally painfuls.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

McKenzie saying the Leafs aren’t in a position to retain much if any salary.

A team badly needing RHD moving it’s only RHD is... scary.

 

[sansabri]

Sounds like waivers.

 

[shortfuze]

I love the revisionist history around Dion Phaneuf. While he was with Toronto, the main boards were flooded with posts about who he "faced the toughest competition in the league" and heated arguments where tons of Leaf fans insisted he was a #1 blue liner and wasn't overpaid.

Then, when he was traded for virtually nothing, a few years pass and now all of that nonsense and ridiculous claims are forgotten and now the narrative is how the Leafs were able to move that contract when everyone said they couldn't. Removed from the story, however, is how Leaf fans were claiming he could be moved for value and was a #1 blue liner and instead it's being replaced with "You said we couldn't trade him and we did."

On the topic of Clarkson, it seems to be ignored that Clarkson's contract was moved, but the price to move it was nearly $30 million. The Leafs are shelling out THIRTY MILLION DOLLARS in order to have traded David Clarkson away. Yes, bravo, great piece of asset management and a real victory for the Leafs worthy of boasting and bragging about here on the forum.

1. I have never claimed anything on Phaneuf. So don’t address my post as all leafs fans. I thought Phaneuf was an ok defenceman and a great leader. But they wanted out of his contract and made it work by acquiring short term contracts and not having to pay him for the remainder of his contract. People said it couldn’t be done because he had no value. Toronto gave up nothing of value and didn’t take on retention. In the end it worked out for Toronto.

2. Again I didn’t say shit about people say we couldn’t move him and we did. I’m not the GM and didn’t claim anything. A lot of fans were saying he had negative value but in the end he got moved and it benefitted Toronto.

3. And again by paying out the 30 million it benefited Toronto. They have lots of money and it was a move they could make. Other teams circumvented the cap and Toronto found a way they could do it. So stop whining.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

Lololololololololololol

They're painting this as Zaitsev asking out and that the Leafs like him like a top-4 D, what a crock of ****

Quite a lot of water being carried at the moment from Bobby Mac and Frieds...

 

[Cousin Eddie]

EJ for Zaitsev + Kapanen

 

[WingsMJN2965]

My point is, there will probably be worse deals signed in Free Agency this season, then what Zaitsev’s deal is. Zaitsev is a guy that traditional hockey folks love and 80% of GM’s are traditional based.

Lou loved Zaitsev. Babcock likes Zaitsev. Is it really that hard to believe there isn’t coaches or GMs around the league that also sees value in Zaitsev and may jump at the chance to add him for a low cost, especially if TOR tags in a prospect?

Frankly, it can go either way. Toronto got out of the Clarkson deal. They got out of the Phaneuf deal.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up in Vancouver and Toronto takes back Ryan Spooner or Tim Schaller or something

Ehh, the Clarkson deal is a bit unique. Traded a massive cap hit to take on an LTIR deal. Realistically, if they tried that now, they'd only get $3M of relief next year.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

Yeah, they're going to have to move some cap around, and there's really only two candidates unless Marleau changes heart on waiving.

There are very few teams with a chance of winning the Cup that would be willing to take on Marleau's $6M. If I'm one of those teams, in realization of that, I'd be demanding a hefty price.

I don't think there's a Marleau move out there that makes sense but it's possible. Marleau is probably willing to help them out if they can find something to his liking but I just don't see that happening.

Those 2 trades were to Toronto’s advantage. The Horton trade was made cause Toronto could pay out money for Horton. Something Columbus couldn’t do. And the phaneuf deal was for players with 1 or 2 years and Phaneuf had what? 4 years left. Bottom line is it worked out for Toronto.

Yes it worked out for Toronto but the motivations and circumstances are different. Neither of those trades the Leafs were making a deal to save and use cap dollars in the short term. They just wanted to get rid of Clarkson and had a deal to make to pay for an uninsured injured player. Phaneuf they were taking expensive AHL'er/fringe NHL'ers to get out from term while also retaining. Yeah, it worked out for them just like this deal could work out for them too but the idea that adding an asset to take Zaitsev isn't going to happen because of those trades when the cap wasn't an immediate concern like it is now is misleading.

 

[Macch]

 

[Jee]

Please be for Lucic