The story of Artem Zub continues. The “Zub” chants will ring loud and clear at the Canadian Tire Centre for years to come as the 27-year-old defenseman signed a 4-year extension this week. The contract will hold an average cap hit at $4.6M per season until 2027-28. While not the flashiest of players, this contract is a tidy piece of business for the Senators, and one that clearly had GM Pierre Dorion fired up:
Low risk, high reward signing
Despite the love for the player today, Zub was once a mystery to many in NHL circles at one point. In early 2020, it was reported the Senators were interested in a KHL defenseman who was in the midst of a very good offensive season, but that was the extent of what fans knew about the little known prospect.
Zub spent 6 years in the KHL playing for Khabarovsk Amur, and St. Petersburg SKA, picking up an Olympic Gold medal and a Gagarin Cup along the way. In his final season, the Khabarovsk native racked up 22pts (13G, 9A) in 57 games.
More often than not, KHL players that sign in the NHL don’t have long careers. But since the Senators were in the midst of a rebuild, the signing would offer Zub a chance to play more minutes than he would on a contender. And so, he inked a 1-year contract with the Senators on May 1st, 2020, in the hopes of carving out a role on the blueline.
It would ultimately take him 7 games to get his first chance at in-game action, making his NHL debut on January 31st, 2021, against the Edmonton Oilers. From there on, Zub was a reliable, surprise addition by the end of the season. He finished the year with 14 points in 47 games, resulting in a 2-year extension. Because of the language barrier, Zub rarely had media availability. So, to fans, he was a reliable defenseman, without much of a backstory.
But Zub has since developed a cult-like following in the nation’s capital, earning the love of the fans in ways some of the league’s top talent could only dream of.. He was signed during the COVID shutdown and he didn’t play in front of fans until 18 months later. From there, it was a full blown love affair between the Russian and the Sens faithful.
Is it because he barely spoke English and happened to have a last name with three letters? Perhaps. But in Sens-folklore, there have only been three players that have had their name regularly chanted at the CTC. Daniel Alfredsson, Craig Anderson, and Jean-Gabriel Pageau. Zub will now be the fourth.
Their search for a top 4 defenseman
For years, Pierre Dorion made it clear that he needed a top 4 defenseman. On the left side, there’s Thomas Chabot and Jake Sanderson. Chabot has proven his worth for years on weaker Sens teams, and now finally has help around him.
Despite Sanderson being a 20-year-old rookie, it’s clear he can handle the minutes and is the teams most consistent blueliner. He’s only going to get better, which is a truly terrifying thought for opponents. On the right side, there’s Artem Zub and Travis Hamonic. Hamonic seems to be a placeholder right now, as he was brought in at last year’s trade deadline to be Sanderson’s partner for 2022-23.
Hamonic’s play has been acceptable, but nothing that screams “long term top four defenseman”. Which is why the Zub signing was so critical for the franchise. If Zub wasn’t extended, then the team would be looking for two top four, right shot defenseman which are arguably the hardest players to find on the open market.
Every team needs a stable defenseman. When they happen to shoot right and play top four minutes, they become all the more important. This signing offers stability on an already questionable blueline, which is why Dorion’s face really says it all:
-Damian Smith
Twitter: @Damian__Smith
Photo: All-Pro Reels. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.