Let's start today with some trade talk. Bob McKenzie let it be known on Thursday that Nikita Zaitsev has requested to be dealt away from Toronto.
I was intrigued to see Zaitsev's name come up after having just watched him with Team Russia at the World Championship last week. I know he takes quite a bit of heat in Toronto, but he was just fine in Bratislava. He finished the tournament with 2-2-4 and was a plus-six in 10 games, averaging 19:26 a game while playing primarily on a pairing with Washington's Dmitry Orlov.
Mikhail Sergachev was a stud on Russia's second pairing, with seven points and a plus-11 and a huge presence on the power play, but it was the Zaitsev/Orlov pairing that did the heavy defensive lifting—and the Russians allowed just 13 goals in the entire tournament.
The Leafs may have mis-assessed what they had in Zaitsev. After his 36-point rookie season in 2016-17, they signed him to a seven-year contract extension at a cap hit of $4.5 million per season. But Zaitsev was taken off the power play after Year 1 and his point totals subsequently dropped to just 13 in 2017-18 and 14 last year.
Even before Zaitsev's request, the Leafs were looking thin on the blue line going into next season. Lefty Jake Gardiner is expected to leave as a UFA and Travis Dermott has undergone shoulder surgery that's expected to keep him sidelined for awhile. On the right side, 38-year-old Ron Hainsey is also heading toward UFA status. That leaves Morgan Rielly and Jake Muzzin on the left, and Justin Holl on the right.
McKenzie says he doesn't think either of the Leafs' top blue-line prospects will be ready next year, either.
So—if Zaitsev goes, the Leafs are going to need a blueliner back. Looping back to the oft-rumoured possibility, maybe Chris Tanev's a fit?
Tanev's a Toronto boy, who has one year left at $4.45 million—almost the same money, but the Leafs would gain some cap flexibility much sooner. His injury history is a black mark, but Zaitsev's long-term contract and whipping-boy status makes him is a liability going the other way.
In addition to finding some defensemen, the Leafs also need to clear cap space so that they can get Mitch Marner, Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson signed. If the Canucks are willing to take Zaitsev, maybe they can also use their cap room to acquire additional assets. Once again, I loop back to the perpetual rumour that the Leafs might want to move out William Nylander and his big contract—and dream of how he'd look, playing long-term with his countryman Elias Pettersson. Like Zaitsev, Nylander had a down year with the Leafs, but looked terrific at Worlds. He finished as the tournament's leading scorer with a ridiculous 5-13-18 in just eight games with Sweden and was named to the media all-star team.
If the Canucks are serious about wanting to re-make their blue line this offseason, I think they could do worse than looking at a mid-price option like Zaitsev, who shouldn't cost an arm and a leg to acquire.
I know the Erik Karlsson rumours continue to swirl. It does seem like the kind of move that the Aquilinis would put money behind—high risk, high reward. And the Canucks might be able to get in on the bidding because of Karlsson's uncertain health status. But even though he missed 29 regular-season games and didn't seem to be playing up to his usual standard even before he was shut down in the playoffs, his postseason production was still quite incredible.
Karlsson averaged 24:45 a game in the postseason and is currently tied with David Pastrnak and his teammate Brent Burns for fourth in playoff scoring, with 16 points in 19 games.
Months ago, the talk was that Karlsson wouldn't be interested in playing in another Canadian market after his experience in Ottawa. I'm still inclined to think that the Lightning will find some way to bring him in to play with Victor Hedman, perhaps on a short-term basis.
Karlsson may never quite return to the smooth-skating brilliance that we saw in his younger days. But even at 80 percent, he's a game-changer. It seems like a risk to sign him to a long-term deal but the risk is mitigated somewhat: if medical issues end up forcing him onto long-term injured reserve at some point, his contract will no longer impact the salary cap and I believe the money itself would be paid out by insurance.
Enough of that. Elsewhere, the NHL Scouting Combine is now moving into the Fitness Testing phase.
According to Sportsnet, four tests are being carried out on Friday and the real fun starts Saturday, with the eight tests that can be observed by teams and media.
Click here for the page where the Top 25 results in each category will be posted on Saturday.
Finally—it was officially announced on Friday that Willie Desjardins is returning to his old stomping grounds.
The Tigers are a perennial playoff team in the WHL but have only made it as far as the Eastern Conference Final twice since Willie left the team in 2010 after guiding them to league championships in 2004 and 2007.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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