Nikita 'Not A Cap Dump' Zaitsev

[ShaneFalco]

At this point I feel comfortable with Reilly, Dermott, and Zaitsev going forward, the rest not so much.

Yeah I'm the same but am hoping one or two emerge this year.

 

[member 262271]

Been very good so far, no complaints.

 

[razkaz]

As others have already said, let's see the following:

Rielly - Zaitsev
Gardiner - Hainsey
Dermott - Oz

 

[Zybalto]

Stop bumping Zaitsev up.

Hes been decent but Hainsey has been even better against stronger competition.

Time to direct the outrage machine in another direction.

Hint: Gardiner has been the worst of the top 4 so far.

 

[Once]

Yes, Zaitsev looked like his former self last night. He has been quietly good although was -4 against Chicago. In my opinion thats a consequence of his matchups and increased playing time.

Regarding the aforementioned pairings. I would obviously like to see Dermott get more sheltered minutes and not be thrown to the wolves as a RD, but I wonder how much better our D would perform with:

Rielly - Dermott/Z
Gardiner - Dermott/Z
Hainsey - Oz

Hainsey plays less and stabilizes/mentors Ozhiganov, whom I think has great potential for a bottom pairing role. Babcock has already shown trust in Dermott this year playing him with Rielly briefly. I don't think this is a far out idea whatsoever.

 

[Critical13]

I will eat crow on this - he's looked very good.

 

[I Believe]

36 points in his rookie year. Might have some offensive potential there.

 

[Knies iT]

Was looking for a thread to bump, too.

Zaitsev has been one of the team's best defensemen so far behind Rielly. Huge improvement from last season.

Looks more solid defensively than in his rookie season. Here's hoping he can stay healthy.

 

[Havoc]

Stop bumping Zaitsev up.

Hes been decent but Hainsey has been even better against stronger competition.

Time to direct the outrage machine in another direction.

Hint: Gardiner has been the worst of the top 4 so far.

Has he now?

Seguin and Benn made him look like he should retire.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

he's not been very good, but he has been better than last year so that's good to see. The other thing is Gardiner looks to be even worse

 

[Havoc]

Babcock said himself Zaitsev is a cycle killer.

Dallas fourth goal probably never happens if Gardiner-Zaitsev was out there. Zaitsev would have took the body and rubbed Radulov out on the boards instead of whatever that crouched shuffling stuff Hainsey was doing.

I mean....Radulov has one hand on his stick and it's on the backhand and it's obvious he plans to go around the net. He was asking to get rubbed into the boards and Hainsey gave him a free pass.

 

[Ziggdiezan]

Noting, Zaitsev has the poorest possession stats of any D on the team so far this year... small sample...

Zaitsev started like 34% of his shifts in the offensive zone it is crazy compared to his teammates who other than Gardiner are more than 50% in the offensive zone

 

[Ziggdiezan]

he's not been very good, but he has been better than last year so that's good to see. The other thing is Gardiner looks to be even worse

Z and Gardiner have been carry all the defensive load as Hainsey has looked poor. Gardiner and Z are around 40% offensive zone starts while the rest of the D are from 50% all they up to 60% (Rielly + Dermott etc).

That is a very different role for Gardiner so I would give it time. Also think Z has been far better than last year which isn't exactly saying much. However he isn't a liability out there is some tough minutes and leading the team in ice time most nights

 

[Mugzy97]

He’s not garbage but he’s not deserving of a 7 year deal.

I get the 7 year deal though. It was a risk, but the reward is that we get a top 4 Dman for $4.5/year over the next 7 years when he likely would have cost us $6.5+ for 5 years if he took a $3.5m bridge deal for 2.

Think about how good his cap hit will look in 3 years if he puts up 40 points and plays top pairing minutes.

What if he says that if you don't commit to him then he'll go back to Russia? Anything less than 7 years isn't enough for him to move his life overseas? He kind of had that leverage. I don't mind the long contract although it was a gamble. We needed a decent RHD and we didn't have to give up any assets.

 

[smitty10]

What if he says that if you don't commit to him then he'll go back to Russia? Anything less than 7 years isn't enough for him to move his life overseas? He kind of had that leverage. I don't mind the long contract although it was a gamble. We needed a decent RHD and we didn't have to give up any assets.

Imagine our defense without him...

He is one of the best European free agent signings in the past 10 years.

 

[Apotheosis]

No doubt that he would be better on the top pair than Hainsey at the moment.

 

[DarkKnight]

Zaitsev has looked good to me, 3rd best D on the year for me and that's right where we need him. With Zaitsev it's the little stuff to watch when analyzing imho.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Stop bumping Zaitsev up.

Hes been decent but Hainsey has been even better against stronger competition.

Time to direct the outrage machine in another direction.

Hint: Gardiner has been the worst of the top 4 so far.

I dunno man, almost every time Hainsey stands out to me, the puck is in our net a few seconds later.

 

[Willchel Marlynder]

Haven't noticed him much which is a good thing!

 

[LeafFever]

He's looked good so far.
Not sure how they keep him and Gardiner though

Gardiner is goners.

 

[as Pure as Evil]

he's had a nice bounce back its good to see him giving oz pointers while on the bench on the fly during games too.

 

[Battle Lin]

zaitsev and dermott been our best defenders to start it off...rielly is picking up the points but hes gotta be even better in the defensive zone

 

[firstemperor]

Zaitsev has been great and people need to drop the tinted lenses with him. The most noticeable thing about him that people never give him credit for is that he's probably our best defender tying up sticks in front of the net. He does a lot of the little things that get no credit. Sometimes, it gets him in trouble on rare occasion because he's so focused on his man, he can lose sight of the puck and shooting/passing lanes (which is why I've noticed a lot of errant pucks go off his skate on occasion)- but I don't think that's really an issue for the most part.

Hainsey, on the other hand, has been awful for a while now. That's the matter of concern in my eyes. It's not just being slow afoot or his reads defensively...it's his ability to transition the puck effectively up the ice. He's been consistently missing targets or too slow on breakouts. If it isn't fixed by playoff time, and he's still being used in heavy usage situations (as he is now), teams like Boston will just exploit his side again on the forecheck.

 

[therealkoho]

offensive zone starts

seriously?

one guy is the top dog on PP2 and the other rarely sees PP time

one guy leads all the PK Dman in TOI and the other is rarely ever on shorthanded, except the last few seconds of a PK to get ready for the transition to 5v5

 

[Warden of the North]

He's looked good so far.
Not sure how they keep him and Gardiner though

You dont. Gardiner is gone, maybe in season if the right deal comes up.