Nikita Zaitsev
The worst defenceman on the team last season and don’t look for that to change in 2020-21. Zaitsev’s metrics don’t paint a pretty picture and neither does the eye test and at four more seasons at $4.5 million he’s likely not going anywhere.
Zaitsev’s heat map is unsurprisingly poor:
Nikita Zaitsev remains a known quantity pic.twitter.com/v24wW9OVwJ
— Micah Blake McCurdy (@IneffectiveMath) February 16, 2020
Creating little to no offence while giving up countless scoring opportunities in his own end, I’m not trying to beat a dead horse but I don’t expect things to change this upcoming season (*prays for third-pair minutes*)
2020-21 Prediction: 56GP 1G 7A 8P
Mike Reilly
There’s undoubtedly going to be some jostling on the bottom pair hence why I used “The Rest” as the header. Reilly should be getting a regular shift over Braydon Coburn and should be used as a filler until Erik Brannstrom can make the jump permanently to the NHL.
Reilly was fine last season after he joined the Senators, producing 12 points in 30 games and actually filled his role quite admirably. Regardless he’s a player who doesn’t move the needle and will likely be pressed for playing time as the season winds on.
2020-21 Prediction: 34GP 2G 6A 8P
Braydon Coburn
Making the official roster as the likely 7th defenceman, Coburn offers veteran leadership, size and not much else. While he did win the cup last season with Tampa Bay he was a non-factor in the playoffs, routinely being a healthy scratch.
Look for Coburn to play sparingly, likely filling in for any injuries on the back end.
2020-21 Prediction: 10GP 0G 0A 0P
Erik Brannstrom
Brannstrom did miss the original roster, but the fact that he missed basically the first week of training camp as a bubble player didn’t do him any favours. It would surprise nobody if he tears up the AHL and ends up coming back up to the NHL to take one of the players listed above spots.
His play in Switzerland while on loan was outstanding and I can’t see Brannstrom lasting more than 15 or 20 games with Belleville.
2020-21 Prediction: 22GP 3G 9A 12P