Zaitsev's start to the season

[Lauro]

Another very good game for him, love it!

 

[Man Bear Pig]

In typical Cherry fashion, its a guarantee that he never brings up how wrong he was about Zaitsev. This is the same moron who'd never shut up about how much of a mistake it was taking Nylander over Ritchie. I'm surprised he hasn't said anything about Liljegren yet(he hasn't as far as i know). It's as if Cherry is secretly trying to motivate these guys or something.

 

[Kshahdoo]

In typical Cherry fashion, its a guarantee that he never brings up how wrong he was about Zaitsev. This is the same moron who'd never shut up about how much of a mistake it was taking Nylander over Ritchie. I'm surprised he hasn't said anything about Liljegren yet(he hasn't as far as i know). It's as if Cherry is secretly trying to motivate these guys or something.

Lol, I think "these guys" just don't give a f*** what Cherry says about them.

 

[Raym11]

It's nice to get a free top pairing D man who then signs a long-term deal. This is a guy who is committed to winning here. Could make more money in the KHL and has a huge language barrier to get over. Immediately signs a 7 year deal to stay.

The difference between this year and last year is he looks way more calm making decisions. You can practically see the confidence in his play.

He is so much more reliable with the puck offensively and defensively to make a smart play

 

[Man Bear Pig]

Lol, I think "these guys" just don't give a **** what Cherry says about them.

Unfortunately, what he says does find its way to the players. Remember when Cherry roasted Ovechkin years back for that celebration he did? The hot stick one? After that he stopped doing that sort of stuff. Cherry has power, like it or not.

 

[The Best Leafs Ever]

He is quietly turning into a beast. With a full season worth of NHL experience, I wouldn't say it would be out of reach for him to become a #1 dman for us. He is PPG for now and currently leading the team with Nylander at +8. Imagine a #1 D for 4.5 million for 6 years after this season and all of those 6 years are his prime years.

 

[Pi]

He looks a lot faster out there than last year and he's making smarter decisions.

I can't believe anyone thought that this was a bad contract.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

He has unique ability to get the puck to the net on the power play.

 

[Battle Lin]

about a quarter into last season hes been our best D till now

 

[TheMadHatTrick]

He's looked great this season. Strangely though I read somewhere that his advanced stats and possession numbers don't look good this year. I guess that's why you always have to take things in context especially in a small sample size.

 

[1specter]

He's looked great this season. Strangely though I read somewhere that his advanced stats and possession numbers don't look good this year. I guess that's why you always have to take things in context especially in a small sample size.

Not sure where you read that. Yes, Zaitsev and Gardiner have the lowest CF% respectively, however they are both still over 50%, and they have faced the hardest usage. Zaitsev also had a very abnormal game against Winnipeg where his CF was like 25% or something like that, otherwise he's been strong in every game since then. In terms of Expected Goals for (xGF%), Zaitsev is the best of the d-men at 64%. Last year Zaitsev had the lowest xGF, so while the sample size is very small and it's early, he looks promising in terms of his improvement. I think Gardiner is also a much better partner for him stylistically than Rielly was.

 

[Wendelstache]

When Gary Roberts have high praises for a player's commitment than that player is a keeper. Glad he's signed long term.

Showing that he's the best all situation player for us ... Only player out of our top 6 that I don't get nervous when we are in our D zone.

 

[Duffman955]

He is definitely our most reliable dman. So solid defensively and offensively. If he was paired with a smarter defender than Gardiner, he could be a part of a great shutdown pair.

I wonder why playoff gardiner never shows up during regular season.

 

[veedubn1]

No problems with this free wallet.

Credit to our management for assessing his talent correctly and getting him locked in for 7 at a favourable rate.

 

[DarkKnight]

He's our best all around D man, let's be honest. Unreal how steady he is, reliable, always makes the sensible exit play, good stick, good pinches, fast reads. The other two have more flash, for me he's emerged as our number 1 and an absolute steal of a contract.

 

[jrgtml67]

Thus far he has easily been the best defensemen. Reliable in our own end 5on5 or PK. Wonder if he gets some PP time soon. The last 2 games our PP has looked awful. No zone time, and when we have had zone time teams are looking for that cross pass to Nylander, or in Marner's case teams are collapsing to cover that cross crease feed. I know shot blocking is part of the game but would it kill our defense to get a shot through. Last night I kept saying "hit the net," or "get it through." Rosen is terrible at it, Gardiner of late cant get it through, Rielly hits the defender or it is way wide. Our strength is supposed to be quick movement, and that is lack. Further to that our zone entry especially on the PP has been terrible. Teams know we are giving it to Nylander to walk in, and in that case not bad success rate. But a lot of times Gardiner or Rielly fire it in too hard, or on the weak side, other team grabs it and easily clears. Yet Zaitsev seems to have a good touch. He shoots it in correctly, he gets pucks through, and the other night I think it was against Chicago, and NJ instead of wiring it he found an open guy *aka the Brown goal. I think soon we may see a change back there as well. Hainsey is Hainsey, and I think he has been great defensively. But Rielly has not taken advantage of that stay at home play. I am not sure if Gardiner would be better with him. But at this juncture maybe try, Hainsey with Zaitsev. Zaitsev is offensive minded, and so far picking the right team to jump up and create. I get why we have the pairs the way they are but so far both Rielly and Gardiner have had little to no offense. I will say last night I think Babcock told them all defense first, do not even think offense. Both D exited the offensive zone early, contributing to little pressure and zone time. Also the only player I saw jump in was Borgman. I really love that guy. Problem is Carrick almost had him get burned for it, if it werent for our forwards hustling back. Anyway it is good to see Zaitsev playing this well, hoping the rest takes care of itself. It is worth noting it may take another week before Rielly gets really comfortable with Hainsey (since he is so new to the team).

 

[slozo]

He's been tremendous, for sure. Had one rather rough game and three excellent ones so far.

We should remember that last year he was pretty much a rookie thrown out in the deep end. We couldn't have made the transition to NHL harder for him.

As usual, I agree with your assessment.

Of all our rookies last year, I felt he was the most hard done by, and received the least love - yes, even worse than our boy Hyman. I really think he has the potential to be a more responsible Gardiner-type, and excellent puck moving d-man who can score who ideally would be an A+ #2 d-man. Perhaps on this team, ideally, he's one of the three #2's in the end that we have, all with slightly different skillsets.

We'll see, but he's started out really really well. Seeing the ice well, jumping into scoring opportunities effortlessly and smartly for the most part. Has stood out almost every game from what I've seen.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

Good info about how Zaitsev eventually made his way to the NHL.
Looks like the Flyers were bullish on him from the getgo.

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/posts/136877603/

As people already explained, Zaitsev's signing was a long story, that involved Yushkevich, Roberts and Zaitsev's coming to Toronto every summer to get better prepared for the KHL seasons.

Maybe spending summer's training in Toronto helped convince him ?

Wonder who Leaf Brass is grooming this way as well ?

I'm sure Zaitsev would be a big draw for other good D in Russia !

Room and Board on the Leafs via some slush money ?

 

[darrylsittler27]

If Zaitsev becomes a number one Dman, then someone becomes expendable with Liljegren and Dermott coming (next year?). Reilly or Gardiner get pushed out.

 

[MR4]

If Zaitsev becomes a number one Dman, then someone becomes expendable with Liljegren and Dermott coming (next year?). Reilly or Gardiner get pushed out.

Why does someone have to be pushed out?

Gardiner-Zaitsev
Rielly-???
Dermott-Liljegren
Borgman

Although there's no definitive #1 dman on that dcore yet, having 3 lines of what you would consider as a great 2nd pair would be Nashville-lite. 3 potential players in that ??? is getting Muzzin from LA, signing Hainsey for another year, or signing Igor Ozhiganov (RHD) from CSKA Moscow in the KHL who was Zaitsev's partner, who had the hardest shot in the KHL and plays mean af.

 

[Advanced stats]

Igor Ozhiganov

1 assist in 16 games so far. Any idea what's up there?

 

[darrylsittler27]

He wants out of his contract so he can pack up and get to Toronto right away.

 

[LeafsLegendAkiBerg]

I think he's been our best D this season. I'm feeling a lot better about that contract.

 

[MR4]

1 assist in 16 games so far. Any idea what's up there?

No idea (Edited: Looks like CSKA Moscow signed a bunch of ex-NHLers this season so Ozhi likely hasn't been given the same offensive chances as in the past, KHL doesn't have roster limits so they can have like 40 players on the KHL roster. It's dumb.), I'll be honest in saying all I know about the player is from articles/tweets of the player, but Ozhi put up good offensive numbers last year without Zaitsev so I don't think its an issue of Zaitsev carrying him to decent point numbers. I've seen people saying based on his offensive production you should expect him to become something in between Zaitsev and Antipin (signed to Sabres this year, think he's playing bottom pair). Sounds like both Zaitsev and Kucherov tried to recruit him to their respective teams, so we'll battle with Yzerman to get him.

Offensive potential:

His shot:

Hitting:

 

[MJ65]

All in all it was one of the best signings for the Leafs in years - 1st he was signed at ELC in his rookie season and then was extended on very cap friendly terms and it's a bargain as per the market

He not only he has given stability and depth to our "D" with his solid play, but has also given us time not to rush our prospects and let them mature before they enter the NHL

He is logging very important minutes on this squad and is part of our core going forward. This is how you explore different market, find the talent and then sign them with reasonable contract

The good news is that after years of disappointments we are now in a position to attract the FA