Zaitsev has somehow regressed in the NHL

[Martin Skoula]

Players don't fall from a top 5 pick do 17th just because they were sick. There were very real questions about his game (and still are).

Also Zaitsev has never been a top pairing D at any point.

What are those questions in his game still? He's successfully playing shutdown minutes against men in the AHL playoff semis at 19 and initiating a lot of physical play. His offense is legitimately the weakest part of his game right now because he's asked to hold back to develop his defensive game the same way the coaching staff did with Rielly last year.

Mono ruins almost a year of physical and mental progress, it isn't just "being sick".

 

[EdmFlyersfan]

Video games...

 

[Flukeshot]

He was do sick that he was never really himself after he came back. He lost a lot of weight.

Then he definitely lost his confidence.

I wouldn't be writing him off yet.

 

[LeafFever]

The guy was very solid last year. People have to stop judging players so fast.

 

[SmoggyTwinkles]

Leafs fans are so irritating. I mean, in the early season, like 20-30 games in there were A LOT of talks on these boards about Zaitsev being in the Norris contention and him being a top 5 D in the NHL.

Now people absolutely trash him. "dude is overrated", "... not a NHL Dman", "not a great fit", "poor season".

Its the same people that started the season with "Anderson should be traded", "Andersen is not an NHL goalie" and then worshiped him until they got eliminated in the playoffs. Then it was Andersens fault once again of course.

I mean, you're not wrong? There's a reason why it's called "bi-polar nation" and I mean no offense to anyone with that btw.

Anyone that ever said anything bad about Andersen is not the type of Leafs fan I like having a conversation with.

Now Zaitsev on the other hand, that contract was an absolute roll of the dice and honestly I don't mind it.

It's a ton of term, not too bad a cap hit if he's ok for most of it.

If he's bad and needs to be jettisoned I think they can get rid of him when they need to.

If he bounces back and plays fairly well, there's no problems with the term or cap and it looks like a good deal.

An absolute gamble of a contract for sure. Too early to declare if it's bad or not. And can also still end up a great contract.

It's no Clarkson contract though you know what I mean?