Nikita Zaitsev

#22Defenseman

2023-24 regular season

SOG

6.5% SH

15:56

TOI/GP

D · CHI · NHL id 8479458

Nikita Zaitsev has played 38 games for the Chicago Blackhawks in 2023-24, scoring 2 goals and 5 assists (7 points) on 31 shots while averaging 15:56 a night (14:39 at even strength, 0:38 on the power play and 0:31 shorthanded). At 5v5 the Blackhawks have controlled 43% of shot attempts with Zaitsev on the ice (14-23 in goals, 65% offensive-zone starts). In the Blackhawks' most recent game against STL he was on D3 with Jarred Tinordi and off the power play. He is shooting 6.5% this season against 4.6% across the 414 games in our data.

Right now

From the Apr 10 game vs STL, detected from shift data

Pair

Jarred Tinordi

Power play

No PP unit

Penalty kill

No PK unit

Last 5: D2 · D2 · D3 · D3 · D3

Deployment timeline

2023-24 · per-game ice time by strength, with line and power-play unit changes

Even strength
Power play
Penalty kill
5-game average
Did not play
▲ promoted · ▼ demoted

12 games shown, 15:48 average. Line and PP unit come from where the player's ice time ranks among his teammates that night.

NHL EDGE tracking

2023-24 percentiles among skaters at his position

Source: NHL EDGE

Top speed23rd2321.1 mph

Bursts 20+ mph24th257

Hardest shot15th1683.8 mph

Offensive-zone time20th2039.3%

Distance skated34th3486.2 mi

High-danger SOG1st00

Percentile among position peers│ tick = 3-season weighted

Season-level NHL EDGE puck and player tracking, refreshed nightly. The percentile is the league rank among skaters this season; the label at the right is the raw value.

Shot map

2023-24 · 90 attempts, 31 on goal, 2 goals

Even strength
Power play
Penalty kill
Goal
Shot on goal
Missed
Blocked

Every attempt (goals, shots, misses and blocks), attacking toward the right (or the top on phones).

Puck luck

2023-24 · cumulative goals against expected goals from his own shots

Actual goals
Expected
±1σ
Above expected
Below expected

Beyond the box score

2023-24 regular season · 37 of 38 games through the sequence engine (more fill in as games are reprocessed)

Method Leaders

: −0.033
Season net: −0.30xG

Offensive TK/600.11 (1)

Offensive GV/600.11 (1)

Neutral TK/600.00 (0)

Neutral GV/600.00 (0)

Defensive TK/600.66 (6)

Defensive GV/601.53 (14)

5-on-5. Each takeaway is credited, and each giveaway charged, at the league xG value of the zone.

Method Leaders

Per 60: 0.66
Attempts: 6
: 0.005

5-on-5 shots within 10 seconds of winning the puck outside the offensive zone.

Method Leaders

Season: −0.97G
Per 60: −0.096
Drawn / taken: 2 / 7minors

Method Leaders

: 40.8%
: 47.5%
: 40.5%
Transition CF/60: 5.4
Turnovers won/60: 15.0
Turnovers lost/60: 15.1

5-on-5 while he is on the ice.

Method Leaders

More of his shots than the league
Fewer

31 shots on goal, 2 goals, all situations
Area	His share	League	G
R Point	29%	6%	0
Low Slot	0%	22%	0
Outside R	26%	5%	1
L Circle	0%	13%	0
R Circle	23%	12%	0
L Point	0%	6%	0
Outside L	0%	5%	0

Role changes

Notable promotions, demotions and ice-time swings from Line Watch

All alerts →

Moved up to D1 from D3Dec 22, 2023 alerts →
Moved up to D1 from D2Feb 22, 2020 alerts →
Moved up to D2 from D3Feb 1, 2020 alerts →
Moved up to D1 from D2Dec 14, 2019 alerts →
Moved down to D2 from D1Nov 20, 2019 alerts →
Moved up to D1 from D2Nov 19, 2018 alerts →

How the goals happened

2 goals since 2023-24 with NHL EDGE tracking: press Replay to watch the tracking animation

Method

Goal anatomy
Game	Play	Entry	Passes	Shot mph	Notes	Replay
Jan 7, 2024 vs CGY	Point shot	—	3*	50.5	—
Nov 4, 2023 vs FLA	Rebound	carry	1	67.9	2-on-1, rebound

* includes a royal-road (cross-slot) pass. Derived from NHL EDGE puck and player tracking.

Linemates

2023-24 · 5v5 time together and how each pairing performs with and without Zaitsev

No 5v5 pairing data this season yet.

Game log

38 games in 2023-24, newest first

Season

Date	Opp	Result	G	A	P	+/-		PIM	HIT	BLK			EV	PP	PK
Apr 10	@ STL	L 2-5	0	0	0	-3	0	2	0	0	—	16:12	16:06	—	0:06
Apr 7	vs MIN	L 0-4	0	0	0	-2	1	0	1	1	—	18:54	18:54	—	—
Mar 28	@ OTT	L 0-2	0	0	0	-1	0	0	0	0	—	6:15	6:15	—	—
Mar 26	vs CGY	W 3-1	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	2	—	15:17	15:06	—	0:11
Mar 23	@ SJS	W 5-4	0	0	0	+1	2	0	1	3	—	18:55	17:15	0:08	1:32
Mar 21	@ ANA	L 0-4	0	0	0	0	1	2	0	1	—	14:32	13:51	—	0:27
Mar 19	@ LAK	L 2-6	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	1	—	18:44	18:42	0:02	—
Mar 17	vs SJS	W 5-2	0	0	0	+1	2	0	0	1	—	12:42	11:53	0:43	—
Mar 15	vs LAK	L 0-5	0	0	0	-1	1	0	1	4	—	18:13	16:35	0:19	1:19
Mar 12	vs ANA	W 7-2	0	0	0	-1	1	0	0	3	—	16:27	15:22	0:07	—
Mar 10	vs ARI	W 7-4	0	0	0	-1	2	0	2	0	—	17:54	17:47	—	0:07
Mar 9	@ WSH	L 1-4	0	0	0	0	2	0	5	2	—	16:56	16:31	0:09	0:06
Jan 16	vs SJS	W 2-1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	—	8:46	7:52	0:09	0:45
Jan 13	vs DAL	L 1-3	0	0	0	+1	0	2	2	1	—	15:30	14:11	0:46	0:33
Jan 11	@ WPG	L 1-2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	4	—	16:27	14:40	1:22	0:02
Jan 9	vs EDM	L 1-2	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	1	—	17:33	15:48	1:20	—
Jan 7	vs CGY	W 4-3	1	1	2	+1	1	2	2	0	—	14:15	11:47	2:21	—
Jan 5	@ NJD	L 2-4	0	0	0	-2	2	0	0	5	—	18:33	11:38	3:36	3:19
Jan 4	@ NYR	L 1-4	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	—	21:27	19:41	0:52	0:54
Jan 2	@ NSH	L 0-3	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	5	—	19:20	16:52	1:47	0:41

Season splits by strength

2023-24 regular season · on-ice numbers from shift and play-by-play data

Strength	GP		TOI/GP						SA	GF	GA	GF%
All situations	38	605:22	15:56	513	690	42.6%	42.2%	244	356	21	27	44%	20.5	29.3	64%
Even strength	38	556:37	14:39	479	649	42.5%	41.8%	223	332	15	23	39%	17.6	26.5	65%
5v5	38	549:03	14:27	474	637	42.7%	42.1%	220	323	14	23	38%	17.4	25.6	65%
Power play	23	23:53	1:02	21	9	70.0%	75.0%	13	5	3	0	100%	1.0	0.2	100%
Penalty kill	25	19:46	0:47	7	28	20.0%	20.7%	5	18	2	4	33%	0.6	2.4	13%
4v4	10	7:34	0:45	5	12	29.4%	25.0%	3	9	1	0	100%	0.2	0.9	71%
5v4	23	23:53	1:02	21	9	70.0%	75.0%	13	5	3	0	100%	1.0	0.2	100%
4v5	25	19:46	0:47	7	28	20.0%	20.7%	5	18	2	4	33%	0.6	2.4	13%
6v5, own net empty	6	2:46	0:28	5	1	83.3%	100.0%	2	0	0	0	—	0.2	0.0	—
5v6, opponent net empty	6	2:20	0:23	1	3	25.0%	33.3%	1	1	1	0	100%	1.0	0.2	—

Career by season

Seasons in Edgehalla's data (2025-26 is being backfilled; earlier seasons follow)

Season	Team	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM			HIT	BLK	TOI/GP
2023-24	CHI	38	2	5	7	-5	14	31	6.5%	69	70	15:56
2022-23	CHI, OTT	46	1	7	8	-9	20	20	5.0%	95	72	16:28
2021-22	OTT	62	2	9	11	-7	28	65	3.1%	128	103	18:59
2020-21	OTT	55	4	13	17	-13	26	70	5.7%	114	110	22:44
2019-20	OTT	58	1	11	12	-8	22	64	1.6%	108	121	22:09
2018-19Playoffs	TOR	7	0	0	0	-3	2	8	0.0%	15	10	18:57
2018-19	TOR	81	3	11	14	+2	18	71	4.2%	139	151	20:28
2017-18Playoffs	TOR	7	0	2	2	-3	2	9	0.0%	25	12	20:48
2017-18	TOR	60	5	8	13	+8	31	54	9.3%	113	134	22:13

Nikita Zaitsev news

Former Maple Leaf Nikita Zaitsev’s Career: From Russia to the NHL & Back Again
The Hockey WritersApr 26, 2025

Headlines via LineupExperts. Links open the original publisher.

On-ice and deployment numbers are derived by Edgehalla from NHL play-by-play and shift data. Tracking percentiles are from NHL EDGE. Data updates after every game.

Right now

Deployment timeline

NHL EDGE tracking

Shot map

Puck luck

Beyond the box score

Turnover LedgerTurnover Ledger (TO±)Takeaways credited and giveaways charged at the league xG value of the zone where possession changed, per 60.Glossary →

Transition attemptsTransition attempt (TRN)An attempt within 10 s of a turnover, recovery, hit-forced recovery or faceoff win in the neutral or defensive zone, in the same play.Glossary →

Penalty ValuePenalty Value (PenV)Minor penalties drawn minus taken, times the net xG of a power play (about 0.20 per two-minute minor).(minors drawn − minors taken) × 0.20Glossary →

On-ice sequence resultsSequence xG (sxG)xG adjusted for flurries: a rebound only counts for the chance that the earlier shots in the same play did not already score.sxG_i = xG_i × Π (1 − xG_j) over earlier same-team shots in the playGlossary →

Shot DietShot diet (ixG/att)Average xG per individual unblocked attempt: how dangerous a player's typical shot is. One of the most stable traits we measure (split-half r 0.68).Shot diet = ixG / iFFGlossary →

Role changes

How the goals happened

Linemates

Game log

Season splits by strength

Career by season

Nikita Zaitsev news