Serious aftermath for Nikita Zaitsev after dangerous altercation with fan

The news broke earlier this week that Ottawa Senators defenseman Nikita Zaitsev had allegedly attacked a fan online, sending messages that hinted he wanted to get physical for being parodied on Instagram.

The story came out and had to enrage the Senators, who weren’t already placed with Zaitsev since the start of the season. Ottawa has struggled earlier on and is dead last in the NHL’s Atlantic Division with a dismal 6-9-1 record through 16 games. Not exactly the result that the team was looking for after adding pieces like Alex DeBrincat, Claude Giroux and Cam Talbot this past summer.

The issue is bad, especially on the blue line, with perhaps no bigger underachiever than Zaitsev. The 31 year old Russian defenseman has suited up for just seven games this season despite carrying a $4.5 million cap hit both this year and next year. When he has been in the lineup he’s been abysmal. He was waived on Nov. 9 and cleared the next day but remained with the team as a healthy scratch.

However, he appears to have gotten a significant demotion on Friday, following the reports of his altercation with a fan online, and has now been assigned to AHL Belleville.

With Thomas Chabot out with injury, Zaitsev could have gotten a shot as a main fixture on the Sens’ blue line. However, many the team believes he needed to reflect on his behaviour and felt that the fanbase would not appreciate the violent blue liner back so soon after his ridiculous actions.

Let’s see what happens next to Zaitsev.