Amid reports that 25-year-old Maple Leafs defenceman Nikita Zaitsev is closing in on signing a seven-year extension with the team, Don Cherry and Ron MacLean discussed Zaitsev’s value and his pending new deal.
Cherry was reluctant to talk about it, but he’s not a fan of the reported long-term contract.
“He’s not tough,” Cherry started. “This guy is minus-21. On a team that is going to the playoffs he’s the biggest minus on the whole club. He’s got 32 minutes in penalties, so he’s a sweetheart. He plays every power play and he’s got one goal (on the man advantage).
“So he’s not tough, he’s got one goal, he’s minus-21, and he’s going to sign a seven-year contract.”
Zaitsev was signed by the Leafs last summer to a one-year entry-level contract and is scheduled to become a restricted free agent this summer. Reports suggest that Zaitsev’s new deal will pay him $4.5 million against the cap, which would make him the second-highest paid blue liner on the team behind 22-year-old Morgan Rielly.
The rookie leads the Leafs with an average time on ice per game of 22:16 and has four goals and 30 assists on the season. Only Jake Gardiner has more points from the Leafs’ blue line with 38 in 76 games.
If Zaitsev does sign a seven-year deal, he would be 32 years old at the end of it. Ron MacLean noted that he wasn’t worried about how old Zaitsev would be through the contract, pointing out that Nicklas Lidstrom didn’t win any of his seven Norris Trophies before the age of 30.
But Cherry couldn’t fathom a long-term deal for a player after just one NHL season with numbers like Zaitsev’s.
“It’s unbelievable a guy can get a seven-year contract and be minus-21,” Cherry said.
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MCDAVID IS THE NO-BRAINER MVP
Cherry also weighed in on the Hart Trophy debate. And although he remains a big fan of Sidney Crosby (“I hope he wins the Rocket”), Cherry said that McDavid’s success at such a young age and how he’s led the Oilers back in the playoffs is too much of an accomplishment to ignore.
“Anybody that doesn’t vote for him for MVP has gotta be out of their mind,” Cherry said.
McDavid currently leads the NHL in scoring with 91 points in 77 games, four points up on Chicago’s Patrick Kane.
