OTT declines.

OTT is not so cap crunched that they have to spend draft capital to dump Zaitsev.

They could dump him next year for cheaper if need be when they need to pay Stu

I think it's more the fact that they want to be competitive next year. Their defence (outside of Chabot and Zub) is pretty bad, and if they dump probably their worst contracts (and White) they could get a ton in free agency and try for a playoff spot.

Because there is no way a team that employs Zaitsev as a first pair RD is a playoff team, or one that pays Del Zotto 2m.

This is my pet peeve, when I see Senators fans say this. Or when someone makes a Senators proposal, and the reply is "Sens aren't near the cap ceiling!".

The Senators ARE cap crunched. Only, it's real money salary they are crunched with, not cap. Dorion has explicitly said they are still a budget team. They want to add a top 6 F and top 4 D this off season. They already have maybe 20 million dollars of bad contracts.

I would pay the TBL 2nd to dump Zaitsev (if) there is no market for him, and (if) dumping 4.5 million is integral to freeing up salary space to make another acquisition. From the Coyotes POV, he is the perfect fit for them because he can eat up top pairing minutes while they tank, which protects their younger defenders. A GM who is tanking also has to satisfy his coach to some extent. So giving their coach Zaitsev to play 22-25 minutes a night while they tank would probably be welcomed.

Paying a 2nd to dump Del Zotto is ludicrous. Arizona has disrupted the market for cap dumps, and lowered the prices compared to what teams historically had to pay to dump bad contracts. Del Zotto is easily still a bottom pairing NHL defender, he just isn't very good beyond that. A 2nd to dump 1 year of 2M in cap/2.25M in salary is way out of line with some of the prices Arizona has charged other teams.