As if there was any doubt, CSKA GM Sergei Fedorov has pretty much confirmed that Russian defenceman Nikita Zaitsev will be moving on from the KHL and joining the Toronto Maple Leafs this offseason.

GM of #CSKA Sergei Fedorov to @rsportru: ‘Right from the start of the season we knew Nikita Zaitsev agreed to terms with #MapleLeafs‘ — Igor Eronko (@IgorEronko) April 13, 2016

This very, very nearly wraps up a year’s worth of reports that Zaitsev is coming to Toronto, but maybe not, but almost definitely is. In fact, our very first post on Zaitsev was in response to an agreement between him and the Leafs, but had to be edited down to ‘interest between the two parties’ after we couldn’t find enough proof.

Zaitsev, 24, scored eight goals and 26 points in 46 games this year for Moscow.

Our own Jeff Veillette did a bit of a deep dive into Zaitsev that you can read here. As he mentions, KHL contracts expire on April 30th, so we may get get some closure on this in just a couple weeks’ time.





