The Toronto Maple Leafs are open to trading defenseman Nikita Zaitsev. Here’s how the Russian defenseman can help improve your team
After three seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs, defenseman Nikita Zaitsev has requested a trade to leave Toronto. After his rookie season where he recorded 36 points, Lou Lamoriello, who was the general manager at the time, signed Zaitsev to a seven-year contract, averaging 4.5 million dollars a season.
At 27 years old with five years left in his contract, he could be a very appealing candidate for a team who wants a veteran defenseman. Here are three ways that Zaitsev helps your team:
3. Right-handed
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In 2015, 205 defensemen played at least 35 games in the NHL. Of those 205, only 65 of them were right-handed. Fast forward four years later and right-shot defensemen are still a minority in the league. Right-handed defensemen are hard to come by in the NHL and having a player who has seven seasons in the KHL and three in the NHL under his belt is a huge score.
NHL coaches love the right-shot left-shot combination as it makes the player’s life much easier. It eliminates the time it takes for a player switch from backhand to forehand when the puck comes around the boards which limits the chances of a turnover as the defenseman handles the puck. Adding him to the lineup could help balance out the pairings to give coaches some peace of mind.
2. Penalty kill specialist
Nikita Zaitsev is a penalty kill specialist for the Leafs. Every time Toronto drew a penalty (which was rare) you could count on Zaitsev to hop over the boards. Among defensemen he was 19th in short-handed ice time, averaging 2:51 minutes a night.
Zaitsev is good at disrupting the cycle and gets the puck out quickly before the opposing team has the chance to set up. The Maple Leafs had a 79.9% success rate on the penalty kill, with the Zaitsev-Ron Hainsey pairing pulling most of the weight.
1. Offensive upside
In his rookie season, Zaitsev put up 36 points (4G 32A), including 12 points on the powerplay. He has offensive upside and it’s not his fault that Mike Babcock never deploys him in an offensive role. In his first season, he had powerplay time and had many draws in the offensive zone which was a big reason for his production. The two seasons that followed saw his defensive shifts grow as he practically had no time on attack.
As long as the team that trades for him gives him chances in the offensive zone, he should be able to put up 30-40 points again as he proved in his rookie season. Zaitsev has the shot, he has the skating ability, now it’s only the matter of giving him the opportunity.
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