Bruins
“The presence that Z brings is important to us.”
It takes only a few minutes perusing through Nikita Zadorov’s highlight reel to glean why the 29-year-old defenseman was so coveted by Boston this offseason.
The Russian-born defenseman is more than just a bruising player. He’s a presence out on the frozen sheet, with teams taking notice every time the 6-foot-6, 248-pound Zadorov hopes over the boards for his latest punishing stroll along the ice.
Boston’s decision to hand him a six-year, $30 million deal is certainly rooted in his reputation as one of the most intimidating players in the league — with his propensity for hitting skaters like a freight train, snuffing out post-whistle shenanigans, and clearing out Grade-A ice all valued, especially come the postseason against teams like the Panthers.
With Zadorov in place, the Bruins now boast one of the most versatile and physically imposing six-man units on the blue line — with the average profile of Zadorov, Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm, Brandon Carlo, Mason Lohrei, and Andrew Peeke measuring out at 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds.
That snarl and sandpaper might stand as the hallmarks of Zadorov’s game — all of which will give Boston’s D corps a much-needed element.
But Boston also isn’t allocating $30 million just for Zadorov to hit opposing skaters into next week. They believe he has far more to give as a featured, top-pairing defenseman — especially if stapled next to McAvoy moving forward.
Zadorov would be the first to tell you that his game is far from one-dimensional. If anything, he feels as though he still has more room to grow entering his 12th NHL season.
“I can chip in offensively when you need. Obviously, the defense is first for me in being physical, being hard to play against that’s the main thing as well, but I can also skate and score sometimes,” Zadorov said. “Not like a big goal scorer, but I’m trying my best and sometimes it takes some time for D-men to develop in this league. I feel like one of those cases for sure if you look, I’m getting better and better every year.”
In particular, the Bruins are banking on Zadorov’s performance during the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs with Vancouver to be a sign of things to come in a black-and-gold sweater.
While he was advertised against both the Kings and Oilers as a physical deterrent, he also scored four goals and eight points over 13 playoff games — averaging 20:09 of ice time per contest.
Despite his physical profile, Zadorov is far from a liability when it comes to his skating skills and ability to generate offense. Even though he may not put himself on a 50-plus-point pace as he did during this past postseason, Zadorov can comfortably chip in with 20 or more points per year while eating up minutes on the blue line.
His aggressiveness and propensity for crunching skaters against the glass has come back to bite him in the past — with Zadorov knocked for both his penalty woes (39 last year, fourth-most in NHL) and freelancing in the D-zone.
But while the Bruins might roll with the punches when it comes to Zadorov’s repeated trips to the sin bin, Don Sweeney stressed that Zadorov has become far less of a liability in his own end.
“The presence that Z brings is important to us. Playing a lot of top four minutes in the playoffs against top guys, comes with a bit of swagger,” Sweeney said. “He has certainly seen his game grow and probably get a little more defined in what he’s capable of doing.
“Early in his career, he had a lot of nights out to try and make an impact, and he made it for both teams at times, like all young players do that are aggressive in that sense. Now he really understands his game and what he brings to the table.”
Both Sweeney and Zadorov harped on the positives that could be gained by slotting him next to Charlie McAvoy moving forward.
Not only would Zadorov’s presence in the top-four grouping give Mason Lohrei ample time to develop on his own timeline in a third-pairing spot, but Zadorov’s own skating and unique skillset could only unlock more in McAvoy’s game.
One of the more underrated areas of Zadorov’s profile involve his puck-retrieval skills and ability to move the puck in transition.
As noted in JFreshHockey’s tracking data, Zadorov ranked in the 94th percentile of NHL defensemen in terms of zone entires last season — while also earning high marks in zone exits (87th percentile), exit success rate (83rd percentile) and possession entry prevention (90th percentile).
His ability to deny easy entries for opponents doesn’t exactly come as a surprise, given his reputation for toppling over skaters after crossing the blue line.
But Zadorov’s slept-on skating ability, complemented by his size, makes him a useful asset as far as retrieving pucks and carrying them out of his team’s zone.
When he was playing at his best, Matt Grzelcyk served as the ideal partner next to McAvoy, with his shifty skating and crisp first passes pushing the puck out of danger in a hurry.
As a direct result of Grzelcyk limiting how much time was spent in Boston’s end, McAvoy was able to avoid taxing shifts spent fishing out pucks along the end boards and avoiding forechecking pressure.
While the manner in which Zadorov breaks out pucks is a bit different from Grzelcyk’s, the end result is the same — with Boston moving the biscuit in a hurry, and McAvoy freed up to be far more assertive down the other end of the ice.
“Z’s exits are good … finding middle ice, which is something Monty likes to do. So it’s first pass ability, I think complements,” Sweeney said. “Charlie gets a lot of focus on the forecheck and takes some physical hits as a result of that.
“I think you can maybe keep some of those flies off at times and also complement in a puck-moving standpoint. So the two guys can cover a lot of ice and play in matchups in any way, on the road or not.”
It won’t take very long for Zadorov to make his presence felt with Boston once the team opens the year in Florida on Oct. 8.
But the Bruins aren’t looking for just an on-ice battering ram in Zadorov. They believe there’s something more there — and that could spell bad news for the rest of the Atlantic Division.
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