Injury Report: Zaitzev not recovering from the Flu, to undergo tests

Field of Dreams

Registered User
Oct 10, 2011
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Port Credit
Hope Z feels better soon.

While Z was anything but perfect last year, he was still playing like a top 4 defence, which is quite impressive for a rookie. It's concerning to see him not build upon his success last year, but his AAV isn't terrible and bottom pairing defence will likely be nearly making that much in 6 years anyways
 

highslot

Registered User
Jul 10, 2012
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Mono doesnt typically manifest like the flu. The only thing mono would be mistaken for is probably strep throat.

you are right in general, and most likely right about it not being mono, but you can have fever, headache, weakness with mono just like flu.

unless it's life threatening, normally m.d.s don't go into too much depth so i wouldn't be surprised if it was a quick dx (you sound like you are in healthcare so i'm sure i'm not telling you anything you don't know but other posters reading might know less; trying to keep the discussion open without trying to sound disrespectful.)

i don't know about zaitsev, but i've never seen a flu 'ongoing' unless maybe he's immunocompromised.
 

Kiwi

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Mar 5, 2016
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I like Gardiner, don't get me wrong. His unpredictability works for us more than it works against us.

That being said, Zaitsev was an offensive D that carried the play his entire process career before he came here, trying to adjust to being a stay at home guy for a high risk player like Gardiner isn't easy, especially while dealing with the injuries mentioned above.

I genuinely believe Zaitsev has the tools to be a better than average top 4D but until he stops playing so conservatively he's just not going to get to that level

A good defensive player moves the puck out of his own zone efficiently and holds his own blueline, Zaitsev has the tools to do that especially the skating so I just can't understand why he's/were not able to get him to do that

If Gardiner can make Polak and Carrick look moderately competent I just don't understand why Zaitsev isn't looking better, he's only looked decent for about 2 weeks this season
 

Morbo

The Annihilator
Jan 14, 2003
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alright, so he didn't look terrible for no reason...that much is good news at least.

hopefully it's nothing really serious.
 

Ratboy

I made a funny!
Jul 15, 2009
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you are right in general, and most likely right about it not being mono, but you can have fever, headache, weakness with mono just like flu.

unless it's life threatening, normally m.d.s don't go into too much depth so i wouldn't be surprised if it was a quick dx (you sound like you are in healthcare so i'm sure i'm not telling you anything you don't know but other posters reading might know less; trying to keep the discussion open without trying to sound disrespectful.)

i don't know about zaitsev, but i've never seen a flu 'ongoing' unless maybe he's immunocompromised.
Almost makes me wonder if its something auto-immune, as the immune system is apparently trying to kill something and is not doing the job, so it just keeps going. In that case a steroid would be used to suppress the immune function (I watched a lot of House) hah. I hope the guy's ok though.

But I'm no DoctorB, so take what I speculate for what it's worth.

 
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diceman934

Help is on the way.
Jul 31, 2010
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Zaitsev's poor play has been completely overstated. Is he playing like a $4.5M dman? no he hasn't but at worst he has been a #5 dman, some posters seem to wanna make out Polak has been better. Polaks best game of the season would be barely better than zaitsev's worst. Who cares about $ for the rest of this year it effects nothing. He will have the entire offseason to get back to his previous form
Polak recent games have been far better then any games Zeitsev has played this year.

The hate Polak takes is simply wrong.

Zietsev has been a mess all year and look at how Gardiner played away from him and the same goes for Morgan. He is simply put not near smart enough to play against good player game in and game out. He is a bottom pair D man.

Polak is a bottom pair D man who has his struggles with fast teams but follows proper rotations and makes better reads consistently. Dermott looks like he will get more minutes in the playoffs then both of them.
 

ottomaddox

Registered User
Oct 31, 2017
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This is starting to look like a Lou imposed flu.

I can't recall seeing a player side-lined this much for a flu.
 

Zybalto

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Dec 28, 2012
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Polak recent games have been far better then any games Zeitsev has played this year.

The hate Polak takes is simply wrong.

Zietsev has been a mess all year and look at how Gardiner played away from him and the same goes for Morgan. He is simply put not near smart enough to play against good player game in and game out. He is a bottom pair D man.

Polak is a bottom pair D man who has his struggles with fast teams but follows proper rotations and makes better reads consistently. Dermott looks like he will get more minutes in the playoffs then both of them.

Zaitsev was actually playing very well before this flu thing hit and Gardiner has played better with Zaitsev than without. Whats even more bizarre is the fact Hainsey has been the dman struggling while people have been slagging Zaitsev (who was pretty brutal in Nov-Dec and wasnt amazing when he first came back off the injury). Zaitsev has also been faltering on the PK a bit after an amazing start but his 5v5 has been pretty steller latley.

I wasnt sure why he was taking so much heat as I couldnt see what many were talking about so I decided to look into the stats. In the 8 games before Zaitsev went down, he and Gardiner were easily the best pairing and led the d in possession over that time at around 56%. What may have burned Zaitsev a bit during this time is his crazy low PDO below .950 and a couple of high visible mistakes that fed the narrative. He did lead all dmen in SCF % at almost 59%. The worst dmen in terms of possession during this time were Hainsey at just below 50% and Polak under 47.

In the four games since, Gardiner 5v5 possession has dipped to 48% (including the laugher against the Canadians) while Hainsey has been bottoming out at 43%!. Carrick and Dermott have really been lights out at around 60% and Polak has looked amazing at an unusual 49% but that might be because he is actually playing with a guy that can carry him. Speaking of carrying a guy, Rielly has been doing his best but Hainsey having to play even tougher minutes than before is going to wear him out.

Im looking forward to Zaitsev coming back as he and Gards were just finding their groove and not having him in the lineup puts a ton of pressure on Gards (who has to eat more minutes than he should and is less effective) Hainsey (whose drop in play was already getting worrysome) and Rielly as he has to carry Hainsey on the top pair. Zaitsev(when playing well) adds a nice layer of depth to the top four and if it wasnt for Carrick and Dermott solidifying themselves as an amazing bottom 6 pair for the playoffs in my eyes, the pain would be more apparent.
 
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A1LeafNation

Obsession beats talent everytime!!
Oct 17, 2010
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Hope he comes back and plays like last years Zaitsev, not this year's Zaitsev.
 

Scott Malkinson

Registered User
Sep 29, 2017
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Zaitsev will be fine.

He recovered from a broken leg.

I have a broken leg right now .

I couldn't imagine returning to NHL hockey after just a couple months. He gets the benefit of the doubt from me for this season. As long as he doesn't cost us a playoff series, he can do his thing and come back stronger next training camp.

A broken leg will throw you off. It fully disables you for weeks and throws you off completely physiologically.
 

WTFMAN99

Registered User
Jun 17, 2009
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Zaitsev will be fine.

He recovered from a broken leg.

I have a broken leg right now .

I couldn't imagine returning to NHL hockey after just a couple months. He gets the benefit of the doubt from me for this season. As long as he doesn't cost us a playoff series, he can do his thing and come back stronger next training camp.

A broken leg will throw you off. It fully disables you for weeks and throws you off completely physiologically.

Broken foot though, not leg. Polak is the one returning from the leg :)
 
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Torontonian

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Jun 24, 2013
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Babcock said Z and Freddy were skating before the team on Saturday. So thats a good sign that hes getting better.
 

Clark4Ever

What we do in hockey echoes in eternity...
Oct 10, 2010
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Zaitsev will be fine.

He recovered from a broken leg.

I have a broken leg right now .

I couldn't imagine returning to NHL hockey after just a couple months. He gets the benefit of the doubt from me for this season. As long as he doesn't cost us a playoff series, he can do his thing and come back stronger next training camp.

A broken leg will throw you off. It fully disables you for weeks and throws you off completely physiologically.

Agreed. He showed so much promise in his rookie season, and I think he'll bounce back in due course.
 

Crazy Monkey

Registered User
Aug 9, 2009
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That would be a different virus. Doesn't tend to give you a "chest infection" (which I'm assuming he has/had based on Daisy's OP) like influenza does. You can develop a concurrent bacterial chest infection with the flu though. Hard to say without knowing additional info.

There was a lot of flu seen in hospitals this year. Part of this is likely related to poor vaccine rates, as well as the fact that the vaccine coverage/efficacy itself was suboptimal

Wishing Nikita a speedy recovery
 

Drew311

Makes The Pass
Oct 29, 2010
11,902
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I have a feeling the organization is giving Zaitev a mental break. He was playing really bad the last few weeks. So bad he was making a mistake almost every time he touched the puck. It seems like Zaitsev can get mentally rattled pretty easily, but when he has his confidence he's different player. Hopefully he's working with a sport psychologist.
 
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