That just wouldn't happen.
A. Gaborik can still play so he'd have to be on your roster
B. In this model OTT takes on a terrible contract and get a 3rd liner along with a 3rd when they could actually play Gaborik and can also LTIR McArthur
C. Zaitsev would still be on the books for the next 4 years when they want to contend in the next 2 or 3 years so they wouldn't take on that contract

A. My bad, I thought Gaborik was done.
B. No, a budget ownership would get to shed some expenses, and get 2 players that can actually play on their roster, and could also be flipped for more assets because ...
C. The sens are def not contending in the next 2-3 years lol.

A. Gaborik is done playing
B. Ottawa gets 2 roster players and a 3rd for 2 ltir contracts.
C. In 2-3 years zaitsev’s contract will no longer be an overpay compared to other contracts. At that point he can either remain a senator or be traded for futures.

The cap hit of players on LTIR is not included in the teams cap hit value. This is a simplification for Armchair-GM that is not technically correct. For more information see the LTIR FAQ

Gaborik is done playing and yes the sens will be ready to compete in 2-3years. Like I said above by that time zaitsev is no longer a bad contract.

My issue is that you have not properly replaced zaitsev. There is a reason polak was moved to begin with.

1.)Only aloud 2 players on LTIR.
2.) marner,kap, and johnsson will get almost million more.
3.) won’t be under cap
4.) that defense is so bad u prolly don’t even make the playoffs because Anderson takes so many shots gets injuried in 40 games

A. He is.
B. Those contracts count towards the floor, but sre believed to be insured. Take a lot if value to get them away from Melnyk, money he doesn't have to spend.
C. No reason for the sens to want zaitzev. Not enough assets to justify taking a liability (him & his contract)

Not Enough assets? Whats the appropriate amount of assets? I don't think its worth more than a couple of mid round picks. And exactly how is he a liability for a team rebuilding, that has 34M in cap space next year? I mean ... are they planning on loading up this offseason with Karlsson, Duchene, Panarin? As stated above, while the sens are tanking for the next 2-3 years his salary and term become less, and they can flip him at a later date.

How is he no longer a bad contract? He had 27 points in his last 2 seasons which less than the amount of points he had in his first season. (36) Also would Ottawa want a guy who has 2 points and is a -10 in 18 career playoff games as their leader of their future team. No! You'd also want someone is consistent as the leader on your team and as shown on by my last comments, Zaitsev is not that guy. If you had Erik Brannstrom as Toronto's prospect would you want Zaitsev to show him the ropes in the NHL? No! You'd want someone like Hainsey to be that guy. Also on the note of him not being a bad contract, According to CapFriendly the 4 most similar contracts to Zaitsev are John Klingberg a top pairing RD who had 40 PTS in 65 GP on the year he was signed and gets paid less at $4.25M over 7 years (94% Contract Match), Oscar Klefbom a CONSISTENT 2nd pairing LD who had 23 PTS in 77 GP in the year he was signed on a terrible D-core in EDM and gets paid less money at $4.167 over 7 years (92.3% Contract Match), Roman Josi a 2nd pairing LD who could very easily be a top pairing LD had 34 PTS in 100 Regular season and playoff games and gets paid less money at $4M over 7 years. (90.4% Contract Match), and Shea Theodore a top pairing D who had 46 points in 114 Regular season and playoff games in his signing year and only gets paid $700K more than Zaitsev. $5.2M over 7 years (90.1% Contract Match). All of these players are better than Zaitsev and 3 of the 4 get paid less than Zaitsev too. Also all of the defenders have proven their worth to all of their teams, where in my mind Zaitsev hasn't. Also all of these players have gotten better over time where as Zaitsev has gotten worse. That's why it's a bad contract

He has negative value to the leafs, which is why you're proposing this. He has less value to the Sens, with virtually no chance of being worth his cap hit when they are signing the current crop of young players to their contracts. You have to bribe someone to take this, and it's got to be worth trading one of their young players in two years instead of signing them. That's just the hockey, real money is a thing for the Sens, where the owner wants to spend at the floor for a couple of years to bank some money and raise salary as they re-sign guys. The two ltir guys with insured contracts that count towards the floor and expire at convenient term have way more value than any player they actually have to pay with more term. I don't think the Sens are looking to take on any money beyond 2 years from now, and even there they'll be looking to take assets to absorb short term cap hit like Vegas last year, not overpaid players.

You forgot to mention alzner... how convenient. To be honest I don’t think that zaitsev has any negative value. He’s competent playing over 20minutes a game on a playoff team. Playing Dzingel starts and shutting down top lines.

In case you didn’t notice he is being traded away with a 3rd for 2 ltir contracts. I wouldn’t call that positive value on the trade there genius. You should spend less time flapping your gums and more time reading. Trolling seems to have rotted your brains.

Personally I don’t think he has negative value to the leafs. He plays a shut down role for us and does a steady job. For a team short on rhd it seems oretty wasteful to pay to get rid of him and then pay (in terms of trade) for another rhd.

Most leafs fans try to get rid of him for that prized 4.5m in cap space. Long term he is not part of the plan as we do have a number of rhd that will be moving up in the next 1-2 years.

What I find ridiculous is paying a ransom to get rid of him then another ransom to replace him with a marginally better Dman. The leafs need a stay at home rhd. Zaitsev has been playing that role.

A. I'm comparing him with players around his age when they signed his contract which Alzner isn't
B. I know that Alzner was a terrible contract and nobody will accept a trade for him
C. https://www.capfriendly.com/comparables/nikita-zaitsev-7585
Alzner's not even on the list
D. My point was do you want a guy who's only 27, has only played 3 seasons in the NHL and is unsucessful in the playoffs to have to become you're leader if you're Ottawa and show the ropes to Brannstrom next year when Zaitsev isn't even a veteran and doesn't know all the ropes right now