Joined: Sep. 2021
Posts: 111
Likes: 93
Zaitsev might be tradeable once Ottawa pays his signing bonus next summer. He'll be making 2.5M in salary, if he is packaged with a pick, you might be able to deal him. This would be the ideal scenario. A buyout isn't ideal but isn't too bad at at $2.8M cap hit for 23-24 and $833k for 24-25.
The idea of bringing in Myers is such a pre-summer 2022 Dorion move. Is Myers better than Zaitsev, not really. He has a $5M signing bonus due, instead of $2M for Zaitsev. If you buy Myers out next summer the cap hit will be $5.3M for 23-24 and $333k for 24-25 which is significantly more for 23-24 compared to Zaitsev's buyout.
If you keep Myers for next year ($6M) compared to buying out Zaitsev ($2.8M), that's Zub's raise plus some.
In a summer where Pinto, DeBrincat, Zub and Talbot are all in need of contracts, I don't think you can acquire more money in bad contracts.