Why would you move Liljegren? He's the Leafs top prospect and fills a massive need they have moving forward which is right handed defenceman. If you are trading Zaitsev for a cap dump send him somewhere he would be needed. Like Vancouver or something, they have very little depth on defence and would likely take Zaitsev for a 4th rounder or something. But packaging him with our best prospect for a different average defenceman seems really wasteful.

you cant just trade zaitsev away for a 4th rounder. as a leafs fan, i can tell you that zaitsev has little to no value at all. so yeah, trading him for a 4th makes sense right? well you would think, as easy as that trade is to make, he carries 4.5M for the next 5 years after this one, with a NTC. i can say without a doubt, hes got the worst contract on the active leafs roster. you have to add a player of value AND retain salary in order to move that contract. zaitsev plays decent in his own end but is utterly useless in the offensive zone. hes very inconsistent with breakout passes that result in turnovers. his BIG problem is his ability to move the puck as a defencemen. hes almost compareable to vinne leino in buffalo a few years back. signed a 6 x 4.5AAV back in 2011, after his peak season in philly, bought out after his 3rd year of the deal. not saying zaitsev is gonna get bought out anytime soon, but its a very realistic outcome within the next 2-3 seasons. moral is, you have to add value to zaitsev, you cant send him on his own. vancouver isnt going to willingly take a medicore defencemen with little to no puck moving skills, while having an NTC and paying him 4.5M for the next 5 years. just not gonna happen.

He's an average defenceman who is becoming extremely good in his own end. I wouldn't trade him unless they have too due to the cap situation. As for the rest of what you said, he may have the worst contract in Toronto but that's an amazing thing for the Leafs. Their worst contract isn't that bad. He's better than Hainsey who is making 3 million a year. Zaitsev gets crapped on a lot but he's really not that bad. He can pass the puck well enough and he's a strong skater who can handle the puck out of trouble form time to time. You are being way too hard on him. If his contract was around 3 million he'd be considered a good contract. Its not like Zaitsev just signed an 8 year 11 million dollar contract on a team that has a tonne of bad contracts and is at the bottom of the league. He has value, he's a 2nd pair defenceman on a tonne of teams and those generally get paid around 4 million.

As a NYR fan who loves fast, why would the leafs do the fast deal? Brown is better and there is only a tiny difference in salary. Why do they want a fourth rounder so badly