Top 3 destinations for Toronto Maple Leafs' defenseman Nikita Zaitsev this summer.

The writing is already on the wall for the Toronto Maple Leads and veteran defenseman Nikita Zaitsev.

It has become rather clear that the Maple Leafs blue liner no longer wants to be a part of the organization in Toronto, and it has been widely reported that Zaitsev has made those demands clear to the team and has asked to be moved off the team. In a recent article published for The Athletic, Toronto Maple Leafs insider James Mirtle described Zaitsev as wanting out of Toronto "full stop" citing personal reasons as the motivating factor, adding that Zaitsev likes both his coach and his teammates. That makes gauging the motivations behind Zaitsev's decision a little difficult, but as it turns out that may make things considerably easier for the Leafs.

Zaitsev could make such a trade difficult for the Toronto Maple Leafs due to the fact that he has a 10 team no trade clause that will kick in on the 1st of July. This could effectively allow Zaitsev to block certain trades made by Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas, however according to Mirtle's sources that will not be the case this time around. This gives the Maple Leafs the ability to pay Zaitsev the $3 million he is owed in signing bonuses following that date, and in theory could increase the trade value that the Maple Leafs would get back as a result of doing so. A budget team would inherit his cap hit of $4.5 million per season, sure, but would only have to pay him out an average annual value of $3.9 million per season on the remainder of his deal. 

So which teams are in the mix? Well according to Mirtle there are now 3 leading candidates to acquire Zaitsev.

At the top of his list were the Edmonton Oilers, a team that Mirtle views as a potential fit on a number of different levels. After rumors of a Connor Brown trade to Edmonton all season there could be a world in which Brown and Zaitsev are packaged together in order to get a return from the Edmonton Oilers. Mirtle could see a return of Matt Benning for the Maple Leafs, meanwhile he believes that if the Leafs increased the offer by swapping out Brown for a Kasperi Kapanen or Andreas Johnsson in the same deal could potentially land the Leafs Edmonton's Adam Larsson.

The second team on the list was the Vancouver Canucks. This one makes a great deal of sense as there were already reports this week from Canucks insider Rick Dhaliwal suggesting that the Canucks had already touched based with the Maple Leafs on a potential Zaitsev trade. 

The Canucks have a ton of cap space to exploit here and as a result they could use this deal to acquire some quality picks or prospects from the Leafs. Rumors have long connected Canucks defenseman Chris Tanev to the Toronto Maple Leafs and with his history of injuries, as well as signs of slowing down, this could be the time the deal finally gets done. The Canucks could even flex that cap space by retaining some of Tanev's salary to extract maximum value from Dubas and the Maple Leafs.

Last but not least on the list are the Anaheim Ducks, a team that is in serious need of hitting the reset button. The Ducks will be looking at a major overhaul this offseason and although they may not have a great deal of cap space to work with that could change quickly. There has already been talk suggesting that veteran forward Corey Perry will either be traded or bought out this summer, and that alone should open up plenty of room for a Zaitsev contract to be added to the books. Zaitzev could potentially fit on the right side alongside a Hampus Lindholm or Cam Fowler, however Mirtle expects this route to be the one in which the Leafs would receive the weakest return. 

Which of these 3 do you expect Zaitsev will be playing for come next season?