the $5 mill at 5 years scares me. He has had a good season so far, but it is 12 games. Even if he continues like this for the rest of the season, it is still one decent season and not worth locking him up that much for 5 years. If we start this then we will have the same mediocre D and no salary cap left. Sure we have a lot of cap space opening up but it doesn't mean we overpay for players
Prospect Info: Nikita Zaitsev Discussion
- Thread starter Stand Witness
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kk87
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He's proven he can be an extremely effective defenceman in the KHL, he was Russia's best dman at the World Cup, and he's been fantastic for the Leafs so far. He only just turned 25 years old. As long as he keeps this play up throughout the season, there's no reason not to believe he'll maintain it for years to come.
5 mill at 5 years though. Guess we will always be struggling with the salary cap. We have 3 big signings in 2 years. Add the fact we need to make more decent signings if we ever want to actually compete. I hope the 5x5 doesnt happen. Get a decent contract this year or trade him at TDL.
Cap wont be an issue whatsoever.
- Matthews, Auston 6,500,000
- Nylander, William 6,500,000
- Marner, Mitchell 6,500,000
- Kadri, Nazem $4,500,000
- Rielly, Morgan $5,000,000
- Zaitsev, Nikita $5,000,000
- Gardiner, Jake $4,050,000
- Andersen, Frederik $5,000,000
Still a lot of room to add a few 4-5m players on the back end.
Canada4Gold
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- Dec 22, 2010
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I'd try to get an extension done the moment January 1st hits. That's the first day you can do it. I've seen enough to believe it's real. If he proves himself for a full season he'll get more than only half a year.
January 1st sign him for 6 years, 4 million if he bites
January 1st sign him for 6 years, 4 million if he bites
Charles Chuck Finley
Registered User
I'm impressed by his play and would like him signed long term. So far this year he has been the Leafs best d-man and he'll only get better as he gets more comfortable in the NHL.
To me Zaitsev at 5m looks much better than Robidas at 3m or Gardiner at 4m.
To me Zaitsev at 5m looks much better than Robidas at 3m or Gardiner at 4m.
Not trying to argue as you guys might be better knowledgeable on this stuff, but that being said we have a lot more contracts to sign than 8 players (if the big 3 sign for what you said) we will have a whack-load of players to sign with the additional $40 million
Wafflewhipper
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- Jan 18, 2014
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You are correct. Babs see's them as a top pair going forward. Its really just a matter of time before these two form our full number one pair(all situations) and they could continually improve with maturing Rielly and a acclimatization to the Nhl for Zaitsev. Babs see's it like this: https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2016...zaitsev-have-a-chance-to-be-a-real-good-pair/
Super Mega
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- Jun 29, 2013
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If you sign him early you take on a risk but can likely get him for a bargain. If we give him a bridge and he continues his trajectory we might lose him or have to overpay. Sports management is about calculated risks and Zaitsev is the type of player I would personally throw in on. I don't even think we would need to give him 5x5, I could see even as far as a 4-4.5x6 getting it done.
Gary Nylund
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- Oct 10, 2013
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Agree with all this. I'm sold on him, I would gamble on him and I would do it sooner as opposed to later to get him as cheap as we can.
Gary Nylund
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- Oct 10, 2013
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That's always the case though. Every team has some good players who command a lot of money, then they fill out their roster with cheaper parts. Defencemen as good as Zaitsev are much harder to find than those spare parts and when you find one and have a chance to lock him up, you do it. In the long run when you have players who earn their salary (like Zaitsev), that's a positive toward building a winner. When you have players that are overpaid, that's a negative that hurts your chances of building a winner, simple as that. So out with the various expiring contracts we have, in with Zaitsev and go from there.
in that list you have:
#1c
#1A C, playing either top line wing or 2nd line C
#1 W elite offensive producer with very good d game.
2x Top pair D 1 LHD, 1 RHD
#3 D man
#1 G
#2 C who is playing great as a shutdown C
Anything else you wanna sign should never cost more than those players, that is your entire core and then some
edit: then we have 2 excellent wingers just about ready now, 3 very good D prospects. What looks to be a huge defensive C for the 4th line. All we don't have coming up is a 1G prospect even then Woll is playing very well by all accounts
Agreed in full
Rielly is still better, but they complement each other extremely well and bring out the best in one another.also, the cap will probably go up. if we really need we can trade kadri or gardiner.
VERY VERY solid. It is college but .930+ last time I checked.
Has that leadership quality too when you hear him speak.
Zaitsev has raised his cf% by nearly 4% in the 6 games since being paired with Mo and not Hunwick.
Yeah more I look at it I would love to go 6.5mill x 5/6 years straight out of ELC for the big 3 very manageable cap hit and also a reasonable amount of money on a first contract
DJIncognito
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- Jun 9, 2007
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If that's your standards, tanking or surrendering Nylander is the only way to achieve that. In that case, why even complain about the losses?
Honestly, the big issue here is the lack of a solid bottom pairing. A mobile, physical bottom pairing, puck moving, is what's needed.
Trapper
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- Nov 21, 2013
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Free agency might be our best option to solidify our D.
I'm not sure who is available for trade.
LHD: Alzner,Kulikov,Smith
RHD: Stone,Shattenkirk
Outside Shattenkirk, how do any of these represent true #1Ds? Honestly, Rielly is majorly underrated around here and Zaitsev isn't that far beyond any of the solutions mentioned save Shatty. That said, he isn't an all-round solution unlike our top pairing.
Personally, I wouldn't mind Shattenkirk on our second, more offensive oriented, pairing. This would really help effectively driving possession and feed the forwards up front.
Trapper
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- Nov 21, 2013
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They don't. You aren't getting a true #1 D unless you are pulling a Johanson for Jones deal or drafting one.
What they do is stabilize a core so you aren't running Marincin/Hunwick/Polak. It also allows more time to develop what we have on the lower pairing.
That sounds fair. I essentially see Rielly as our true #1D with Zaitsev being an excellent, all-round RHD. Right now, we need a mobile, puck-moving RHD partner for Gardiner so to exploit his strong transition game.
The bottom pairing also needs to be totally reworked. It's time to call up our youngsters because this Polak experiment is awful.
Hmmm, he can become a U F A a month after he graduates. Wouldn't count on him. Skaters may leave college early. Goalie would likely play out his whole college career. So if he does that he may as well wait the 30 days and pick where he'd like to play.
Trapper
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Moving forward, depending who we acquire, we can either have Rielly/Zaitsev together or feature them on opposite pairings.
For example Rielly and a partner like Stone/Tanev and a Kulikov/Alzner/Orlov with Zaitsev. Then for the majority of the game you have these 4 on the ice.
Gardiner can then break in Dermott/Nielsen/Carrick on the 3rd.
I don't want to rush Nielsen or Dermott up to the bottom pair just yet. Ideally I'd like to give them the majority of this year in the AHL where their success will only improve their confidence.
What we have is Corrado who needs to get in the lineup or traded/waived. It's getting a little ridiculous keeping him. If Babcock doesn't like/trust him that's fine. Why is he here then?
