Quote:
Originally Posted by T@T
Holy overate man, Zaitsev will get killed in the NHL, he's a skinny little softy who likely will never see NHL ice. I could name 10 AHL defenseman with a better chance of making the NHL over this little guy.
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By no means is he a banger. The D-man that I'd actually compare him with is Anton Babchuk. The difference being that Zaitsev is significantly quicker on his feet than Babchuk was, and that he's smarter in how he approaches his defensive assignments. He is skinny and is more of a Bouwmeester style defender, using his positioning and stick work to defend.
If he was a physical guy with the body type to match, he probably would have been a mid first round pick back when he was draft eligible.
I would not expect him to be more than a #3/4 guy defensively, but he could put up 40 points if he's put on the 1st power play unit.