Chicago Blackhawks: Exploring a trade for Nikita Zaitsev

The Chicago Blackhawks could use any help they can get on the blue line, and one guy from Toronto might be a good match to help them.

The Chicago Blackhawks are the type of team that had a serious problem defending in 2018-19. They are going to look to address the problem in this upcoming offseason as they hope to make a return to the playoffs next year and get the most out of the rest of Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews‘ prime.

The Toronto Maple Leafs announced to the whole hockey world that one of their defenseman, Nikita Zaitsev, was available. He is going to be moved, and this might be something that the Blackhawks try to do in order to set their defense up for more success.

Zaitsev just came off of his third season in the NHL and has been a pure defender for the Maple Leafs in all three of them. He doesn’t score you a whole bunch of points but in his time under Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock, he has been heavily relied on.

In his 223 game NHL career, he has 12 goals and 51 assists for 63 points. Those aren’t terrible numbers for someone who is considered a “defensive defenseman” but he isn’t changing the game either in that regard. He does, however, average 21:31 minutes of time on ice in his career and it isn’t particularly easy for a young defenseman to get that many minutes under coach Babcock.

He clearly was doing something right as the Maple Leafs made it to the playoffs in each of his three years there. He isn’t the reason they were always a postseason team but having a steady 20-minute guy on your second pair surely doesn’t hurt. He also is reliable to be available for the most part. He played all 82 games of his rookie season, then dealt with a few injuries in his second year which cause him to miss 22 games, but then played in all but one game in 2018-19.

So if he’s a steady guy why do the Maple Leafs want to trade him? Well, they still have to sign Mitch Marner who is going to need a lucrative contract to go along with their already cap crunched roster loaded with superstars. Zaitsev is 27 years old and has five years left on a 4.5 million dollar contract. That really fits into the aforementioned “Toews and Kane timeline”. If put in a position to succeed, he might fit in really well with Chicago, and if he did then 4.5 million could be a bargain. If you look at how other defensemen of similar skills are paid, you might see that he could be worth it.

Lots of teams are going to inquire on Zaitsev, so it might be in the Blackhawks best interest to at least think about it before someone else does. It should be something they at least consider because they need to improve defensively in 2019-20 or they will be in their third consecutive season without a postseason appearance.