Nikita Igorevich Saizew

Nikita Saizew
Date of birth	October 29, 1991
place of birth	Moscow , Russian SFSR
size	185 cm
Weight	80 kg
position	defender
Shot hand	Right
Draft
KHL Junior Draft	2009 , 1st round, 4th position HK Sibir Novosibirsk
Career stations
until 2009	Krylya Sovetov Moscow
2009-2013	HK Sibir Novosibirsk
2013-2016	HK CSKA Moscow
2016-2019	Toronto Maple Leafs
since 2019	Ottawa Senators

Nikita Igorewitsch Saizew ( Russian Никита Игоревич Зайцев , English Nikita Igorevich Zaitsev ; born October 29, 1991 in Moscow , Russian SFSR , Soviet Union ) is a Russian ice hockey player who has been under contract with the Ottawa Senators in the National Hockey League since July 2019 and there plays in the position of defender .

Career

Nikita Saizew began his career as a hockey player in his hometown in the youth department of Krylya Sovetov Moscow , where he was active until 2009. In the KHL Junior Draft 2009 , the defender was selected in the first round as the fourth player from HK Sibir Novosibirsk , for whom he made his debut in the newly founded Continental Hockey League in the 2009/10 season . In his rookie year , he gave one assist in 40 games.

In the 2012/13 season he achieved his breakthrough in the KHL when he collected a total of 19 scorer points over the course of the season and thus aroused the interest of other clubs. On May 1, 2013 he was exchanged for Igor Oschiganow and Dmitri Kugryschew from HK CSKA Moscow . HK Sibir also received a financial compensation payment.

In May 2016, Saizew moved to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the National Hockey League (NHL), where he signed a one-year contract. This was extended by seven years after the 2016/17 season, in which the defender had 36 scorer points, with Saizew earning an average of 4.5 million US dollars. However, the Russian did not fulfill the contract in Toronto, as he announced his dissatisfaction in Toronto after the end of the 2018/19 season and forced a change. At the beginning of July 2019, he was therefore transferred to the Ottawa Senators in the Canadian capital together with Connor Brown and Michael Carcone . In return, they gave Cody Ceci , Ben Harpur , Aaron Luchuk and a third-round vote in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft to Toronto.

International

For Russia , Saizew took part in the U18 Junior World Championship in 2009 and the U20 Junior World Championship in 2010 . At the U18 World Cup in 2009, he and his team won the silver medal. He made his men's debut at the 2013 World Cup before winning the bronze medal with the team at the 2016 World Cup and being elected to the tournament's All-Star Team. He also represented his home country at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey .

Achievements and Awards

2009 silver medal at the U18 Junior World Championship 2011 gold medal at the U20 World Junior Championship 2016 bronze medal at the world championship

2016 World Championship All-Star Team 2019 bronze medal at the world championship

Career statistics

Status: end of the 2019/20 season

				Regular season							Playoffs
season	team	league		Sp	T	V	Pt	+/-	SM		Sp	T	V	Pt	+/-	SM
2008/09	MHK Krylya Sovetov Moscow	Vysschaya League		8th	0	0	0	-1	0		3	0	0	0	-1	2
2009/10	Sibirsky Snaipery	MHL		4th	0	1	1	+2	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
2009/10	HK Sibir Novosibirsk	KHL		40	0	1	1	-10	6th		-	-	-	-	-	-
2010/11	Sibirsky Snaipery	MHL		4th	1	2	3	+1	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
2010/11	Sauralje Kurgan	Vysschaya Hockey League		-	-	-	-	-	-		4th	0	2	2	± 0	4th
2010/11	HK Sibir Novosibirsk	KHL		39	0	2	2	+5	12		4th	0	0	0	-4	2
2011/12	Sibirsky Snaipery	MHL		4th	4th	0	4th	+3	0		1 1	0	0	0	± 0	10
2011/12	HK Sibir Novosibirsk	KHL		53	1	3	4th	+4	28		-	-	-	-	-	-
2012/13	HK Sibir Novosibirsk	KHL		49	7th	11	18th	–7	41		7th	1	0	1	-4	8th
2013/14	HK CSKA Moscow	KHL		33	4th	8th	12	+1	18th		4th	1	1	2	± 0	27
2014/15	HK CSKA Moscow	KHL		57	12	20th	32	+27	31		16	1	7th	8th	+6	2
2015/16	HK CSKA Moscow	KHL		46	8th	18th	26th	+21	20th		20th	4th	9	13	+7	10
2016/17	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		82	4th	32	36	-22	38		4th	0	0	0	-4	0
2017/18	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		60	5	8th	13	+8	31		7th	0	2	2	-3	2
2018/19	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		81	3	11	14th	+2	18th		7th	0	0	0	−3	2
2019/20	Ottawa Senators	NHL		58	1	11	12	-8th	22nd		-	-	-	-	-	-
MHL total				12	5	3	8th	+6	2		1	0	0	0	± 0	10
KHL total				317	32	63	95	+41	156		51	7th	17th	24	+5	49
NHL overall				281	13	62	75	-20	109		18th	0	2	2	-10	4th

International

Represented Russia in:

U18 World Championship 2009 U20 World Cup 2010 U20 World Cup 2011 World Championship 2013

World Championship 2016 World Cup of Hockey 2016 World Championship 2018 World Championship 2019

year	team	event	result		Sp	T	V	Pt	+/-	SM
2009	Russia	U18 World Cup			7th	1	4th	5	+7	14th
2010	Russia	U20 World Cup	6th place		6th	0	0	0	+1	4th
2011	Russia	U20 World Cup			6th	0	0	0	-2	0
2013	Russia	WM	6th place		3	1	0	1	+1	0
2016	Russia	WM			10	1	3	4th	+12	2
2016	Russia	World cup	4th Place		4th	0	2	2	+3	2
2018	Russia	WM	6th place		8th	0	8th	8th	+8	0
2016	Russia	WM			10	2	2	4th	+6	0
Juniors overall					19th	1	4th	5	+6	18th
Men overall					35	4th	15th	19th	+30	4th

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; ¹  play-downs / relegation )

Web links

Commons : Nikita Saizew  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Player biography on the Ottawa Senators website
• Nikita Saizew at eliteprospects.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ cskanews.com, “Сибирь” обменяла Зайцева в ЦСКА на Ожиганова и Кугрышева и денежную компенсацию , October 1, 2013, accessed on October 24, 2013
2. ↑ Maple Leafs sign defenseman Nikita Zaitsev. mapleleafs.nhl.com, May 2, 2016, accessed May 3, 2016 . 
3. ^ Maple Leafs Sign Zaitsev to Seven-Year Extension. nhl.com, May 2, 2017, accessed May 2, 2017 .