The Senators signing from the KHL will have a tough path to the roster
Signed on May 1st, Artyom Zub was thought by many and probably himself as a safe bet to crack the Senators roster, now with recent acquisitions by Pierre Dorion, it won’t be as easy as it originally was.
Zub 25, comes over after enjoying a breakout season with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL, where he scored 13 goals and 22 points in 57 games while posting a plus 35 rating which led the entire KHL. He was also one of the stars of the gold-medal winning Russian team during the 2018 winter Olympics, he carries a background filled with plenty of success.
Standing at 6’2″ and nearly 200 pounds, Zub is a big-body right-shot who thrives on the defensive side of the puck. That description is eerily similar to those of recently acquired right-shot defencemen Josh Brown and Erik Gudbranson. From what it seems, Brown joins Nikita Zaitsev as the two guarantees on the right side then that leaves Gudbranson, Zub and Christian Jaros to battle for that role on the bottom-pairing. Zub, like Gudbranson, is on a 1-way contract while Jaros just recently was inked to a two-way contract. This would lead to a likely competition between Gudbranson and Zub, likely leaving Jaros in the AHL. Gudbranson is 28-years-old and is a former 3rd overall pick of the Florida Panthers but has been a huge disappointment throughout his NHL career, on the other hand with Zub, most have an idea of what he is but the possible upside is definitely superior to that of Gudbranson.
Jokke Nevalainen of Dobber Prospects did a quick recap of Zub’s game:
"A reliable two-way defenseman who will hit and block shots. Not the most talented offensive player but should be able to jump right in to the NHL in 2020-2021"
Definitely not a guy who can produce a lot of offence, but the defensive acumen is there and Nevilainen views him as a player who should jump right into the NHL and on a Senators blue line while ladened with depth, has limited talent. While he doesn’t have great talent on the offensive side of the game, it’s definitely higher than that of Gudbranson, the evidence is below:
Nobody can debate the fact that this Senators team isn’t ready to win yet and leaving Zub in the press box for Gudbranson would be a move that should and would be heavily scrutinized. The Senators could have themselves a competent bottom-pair defenceman in the making on a low-risk contract.
While I am led to believe Ottawa will play Gudbranson over Zub, especially early in the season as a result of the 5th-round pick they surrendered to acquire him, I’m hopeful they will give Zub a fair shot.