To be honest, many people are complaining about his new contract but I don't mind it, he's proven to be a top 3/4 defenseman and locking a right handed defenseman up whose still relatively young isn't a bad move. Look at MTL, they signed him for 5.5m and you could argue Zaitsev is better

It's hard not to see the direct comparables to the Blackhawks. Only time will tell if Nikita ends up being a good deal or an albatross of sorts. If he ends up being a legit 3/4 defenceman on what will hopefully turn in to a contending team, he'll be like a Hjalmarsoon is to Chicago.

It's funny how so many people gave me crap for what I kept saying what Zaitsev would get. 7 years at $4.5M and that is exactly what they gave him.

I'm a bit surprised he got 7 years. I was expecting maybe 5 years at 6mil a year. But i think he's fit in well. Here's my Toronto defence for if they were still in the playoffs:

Reilly-Zaitsev
Polak-Carrick
Hunwick-Marchenko

I know they're out now but if they were still in.

if the Flyers could pull out a deal like this with Ghost I'd be ecstatic! Good job TOR at setting the market and no overdoing it

that's not good enough

And you forgot Gardiner. They aren't trading Gardiner, Reilly, or Zaitsev.

I didn't forget Gardiner. I scratched him ... he always gives the puck away and makes mistakes.

yup, a guy who finished top 10 in the league in +/- is a bad defenseman, lol

go learn hockey

I love the forward thinking with this management group. If his contract becomes an issue down the road, it will be easy to move. And the fact that he'll only be 32 years of age when it's over is perfect.

Exactly. Good deal through the best years he will have and at a reasonable rate.

I understand hockey ... and Brooks Orpik is better than Aaron Ekblad because he has a better plus-minus, right?

Edit: I didn't say he was a bad defenseman. He's in the NHL, so obviously he's a really good hockey player, but i just think he makes too many mistakes.

He doesn't make too many mistakes. Orpik played on the best team in the NHL. For him to have a low +/- would be sad. Gardiner played on a team that wasn't defensively sound, he can't play against top end players, but 2nd, 3rd and 4th liners he dominates.

As I said, GO LEARN SOME HOCKEY KNOWLEDGE.

I know a lot about hockey just so you know.

So Dennis Seidenberg is better than Hampus Lindholm, right? Because he has a better plus-minus on a bad team. Am i right?

No, it isn't just about plus/minus. Since Babcock took over his Corsi metrics have gone up significantly and the fact that the team wasn't the best defensively but he still managed to come out +22. That on its own is a little bit of a miracle because the rest of the team was under +10