Toronto Maple Leafs

Locking up Zaitsev, Leafs maintain margin with win in Nashville
March 31, 2017, 5:49 PM ET [17 Comments]
Mike Augello
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The Toronto Maple Leafs needed to keep pace with the teams pursuing them in the Eastern Conference playoff race and did so with a 3-1 victory over the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday.

James van Riemsdyk and Auston Matthews scored power play goals, Connor Brown provided an insurance tally into the empty net and Frederik Andersen posted his 31st victory of the season to keep Toronto one point ahead of Boston for third in the Atlantic Division, four points in front of Tampa Bay, five points ahead of the streaking Carolina Hurricanes and moved them within two of the slumping second-place Ottawa Senators.



Andersen was stellar in his first game back with 29 saves, including a dozen stops in the third period to preserve a one goal lead after Filip Forsberg narrowed the lead to 2-1.

“I thought Freddy had a good night. I thought we got off to a real good start. The first 10 minutes (Nashville) didn't even get going, it was kind of a nothing period.” Leafs coach Mike Babcock said after the game. “We had real good special teams tonight – real good on the power play, real good on the penalty kill and Freddy was solid down the stretch.”

Boston beat Dallas 2-0 at TD Garden for their third straight victory. Tampa Bay, without star forward Nikita Kucherov in the lineup defeated Detroit 5-3, winning their fourth in a row and Carolina earned points in their 13th straight game as Noah Hanifin scored in overtime to give the Canes a 2-1 win over Columbus.

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TSN's Bob McKenzie and Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported on Thursday that the Maple Leafs and Nikita Zaitsev are close to agreeing on a seven-year contract extension, in the neighborhood of $4.5 Million per season.

Zaitsev was scheduled to be a restricted free agent this summer and two years from being an unrestricted free agent, which means the new deal would be buying five years of unrestricted free agency through his prime years of the defenseman’s career.

The reported $4.5 Million AAV is in the usual range for a top-four NHL defenseman, as there are currently 40 blueliners making between $4 Million - $5 Million annually, including deals signed since last summer for Sami Vatanen ($4.875 Million) and Jason Demers ($4.5 Million).

The 25-year-old is second in defensive scoring with 34 points (four goals, 30 assists) in 76 games and played most of the season on the top defensive pairing with Morgan Rielly, as well as significant time on the Toronto power play.

The Moscow native was looking for the security of a long-term deal and to stay in Toronto rather than going back to the KHL and the Leafs got a favorable cap hit as they did on Morgan Rielly and Nazem Kadri’s extensions last April.

The effect this will have on the upgrade of the blueline over the next 12 – 24 months is anyone’s guess, but if the reports of Zaitsev’s new deal are correct, it would place him under Rielly’s $5 Million AAV and above Jake Gardiner's $4.05 Million salary.

Rielly is signed through 2022, while Gardiner will be a free agent in 2019. Zaitsev’s ability to handle the power play might free up Toronto to trade Gardiner, who made another questionable defensive play of Filip Forsberg’s third period goal on Thursday.



Gardiner is at his highest trade value (leading Leafs defensemen with 38 points) now and moving him is not out of the question if Toronto feels that prospect Travis Dermott is ready to make the jump next season, if a trade for a top pairing defenseman like Jacob Trouba is possible or if they need to free up cap space to sign a free agent like Washington’s Karl Alzner.