New Jersey Devils Should Avoid Nikita Zaitsev
By Nick Villano
Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Nikita Zaitsev has requested a trade. While it might seem to make sense for the New Jersey Devils to go after him, this is one deal they should steer clear of at this point.
The New Jersey Devils could use some help on the defensive end, and good defensemen don’t become available that often. Today, Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Nikita Zaitsev requested a trade.
It will be an interesting to see how the Maple Leafs deal with this situation, since Zaitsev is making a decent amount of money, the Maple Leafs are already losing Jake Gardiner in free agency, and they can’t really afford to make a move until next year with Mitch Marner, Kasperi Kapanen, and Andreas Johnson all restricted free agents.
Zaitsev will likely go to the highest bidder, but no team will have to overpay in trade. Zaitsev is making $4.5 million per season for the next five seasons. He isn’t living up to the contract that Lou Lamoriello gave him after his rookie season. He was a standout that year, but hasn’t lived up since then.
If the Maple Leafs ate some of that contract, then it would be worth it for the Devils to make him an upgrade, but at this point, this contract will only hurt the next team that gets it. That includes the Devils.
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His Corsi For Percentage (44.8) and Fenwick (42.6) are both well below average. He does play on the right side, which is the Devils worse side. They have Damon Severson on that side, then Connor Carrick and Steve Santini. The Devils are working towards a logjam with Will Butcher, Andy Greene and Sami Vatanen all playing on the left with Ty Smith ready to make the NHL this season.
Zaitsev just won’t be much of an upgrade for a player they can pay very little this offseason.
Zaitsev might play the position the Devils need, but they desperately need players to play on the top line. This team’s defense will once again under achieve if they go into the season with Severson, Vatanen and Greene sharing time on the top line. Zaitsev gives them too many defensemen, unless of course the Maple Leafs take Santini in return for Zaitsev.
Then you have to look at the Devils acquisition of Zaitsev as taking off the Santini contract, which has two more years and a total of just under $3 million. While that would help, that contract takes off the money from the first two years, when the contract is still fine. It will become atrocious when he turns 30.
It feels like a stay away from the Devils perspective. There are certainly teams who could use Zaitsev, but the Maple Leafs will be hard pressed to find one that has cap space. The Devils should not waste the money they’ve saved up on a third-line defenseman.