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The chase of the European free agent all starts from the Maple Leaf end with Paliafito, the Leafs’ Director of Player Evaluation, his name one that is rarely mentioned in hockey circles. His job is to watch available players, find out about them, track them, engage them, do research on them, and meet them, their families and their agents. And then do it all again.

“Jimmy played a huge role in Nikita signing in Toronto,” said Milstein, who took over from Zaitsev’s original agent, Mike Liut. “Jimmy found him, identified him, kept in touch with him regularly.”

“He did everything for me,” said Zaitsev. “He did a huge job to bring me here. He’s an unbelievable guy.”

Said Milstein: “I think people probably underestimate what Jim does for that organization. You don’t hear his name at all. He sets up everything. The Leafs, they do it right. And then for Lou to jump on a plane and close a deal, really, that’s unheard of. Nikita had conversations with maybe 15 teams. Ask me how many GMs jumped on a plane to meet him. The answer: zero. And when a legendary GM and a legendary player does that to meet with you, it tells you how you fit in.”

The emerging Zaitsev, who has since committed long-term in Toronto, is just part, maybe the best part to date, of the Paliafito file. The former NFL player agent and GM of the Ontario Hockey League’s Saginaw Spirit was the key man in the signings of Swedish defencemen Calle Rosen and Andreas Borgman, who have already played significant minutes in their first NHL seasons; one of them will play a regular spot for the time being. He was also central to the signing of centre Miro Aaltonen, who almost made the Leaf team this year out of training camp.