The Philadelphia Flyers are a leading candidate to sign strong Russian defenseman Nikita Zaitsev, an undrafted 23-year-old who’s been playing in the KHL since 2009, via Bill Meltzer:
According to a Russian-language article in Championat.com, the Philadelphia Flyers are among the most active NHL pursuers of the player, in addition to the Buffalo Sabres and other clubs. The article further states that, two years ago, the Flyers made a heavy push for the player (then coming off a breakthrough season with Sibir Novosibirsk) but he elected to stay in Russia and sign with CSKA.
The Championat article goes on to say that the Flyers had interest in Zaitsev back in 2013, but that Zaitsev instead decided to stay in Russia — perhaps because he would have had to fight his way up with the Phantoms to make the NHL. Top level hockey in your home country — with top-level pay — or lower level hockey in North America? Which would you pick? Don’t blame Zaitsev at all for not coming over if indeed the Flyers made an offer.
But things are certainly different now. As our Charlie O’Connor points out, the Flyers would be crazy not to offer Zaitsev immediate NHL playing time this year — of course with the caveat that he’ll have to earn it in camp just like anybody else. The point is that it really, really would not be hard for a highly-touted KHL defenseman to make this defense.
Fact is, when your projected D has SIX guys who are ideally third-pair d-men, offering a touted UDFA immediate playing time is a no-brainer.
— Charlie O’Connor (@BSH_THG_Charlie) May 7, 2015
The Flyers defensive set up looks … uhh, horrifying … next year, assuming none of the ‘Big 4’ defensive prospects make the team out of camp. (That might not be a safe assumption, but that’s a conversation for later.)
Think about it: Mark Streit, Luke Schenn, Andrew MacDonald, Michael Del Zotto, Nick Schultz, Nicklas Grossmann, Brandon Manning, Radko Gudas. That is straight up want-to-break-my-computer-monitor-in-half stuff right there. It’s the perfect time to take a chance on a guy like Zaitsev.
Now, the awkward part is that we say this with little-to-no first person knowledge of Zaitsev’s game. I don’t pretend to watch the KHL — like, at all — and I don’t know anything about Zaitsev as a player other than what his stats say. Here’s a brief bit on what Meltzer says about him:
Zaitsev is considered to be a good two-way defenseman with above-average puck moving skills as well as an accurate shot from the point. Although born in Moscow and initially trained in the Krylia development program, he did not blossom until he went to Novosibirsk.
The point, however, is that there’s interest in him and that interest comes from more than just the Flyers. He’s played a lot of KHL hockey, has played at World Juniors, has played at the World Championships.
If the Flyers think there’s enough there to sign him, there’s no reason he shouldn’t be given a fair shot at making the roster. He can’t be worse than what this team has penciled in for next season — and in the chance he is somehow worse, let him show it on the ice.
