Nikita Zadorov exceeded all expectations placed on him by the Canucks. But he deserves a large salary.
Stop listening to those Edmonton reporters, Nikita Zadorov declared this week.
They’re the ones running wild about what his contract might be, that he may have set an expectation that is too big for what the Canucks can afford, he said on Thursday.
“How much you think I should be making,” he teased Global TV’s Barry Deley, who had asked Zadorov how badly he wanted to come back to Vancouver.
“I don’t know where you get those numbers. From the trees?”
Whatever has been speculated about him, he said, is inaccurate. The only voices that matter on his future contract are Vancouver Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin and Zadorov’s agent, Dan Milstein.
Zadorov found the Canucks to be a great fit. He was what Allvin and his staff hoped he’d be when they traded for him in November.
On the ice, he’s been a sensational performer for Rick Tocchet.
Off the ice, he quickly emerged as an essential teammate.
And at home, his family settled well into life in West Vancouver.
“Obviously we love it here,” Zadorov said. “Hopefully we can work something out.”
Zadorov said that playing for Vancouver fans was as great as he’d hoped.
“I can only compare with Calgary, but I feel like the Vancouver fan base is way bigger. You know, (the Flames) they’re not even the No. 1 team in Alberta,” he said.
“There’s more Edmonton fans because they have a bigger history through the years, right? But Vancouver is a different level. The fans were so hungry to see the playoff hockey at home. It’s been eight years. There’s so many great traditions obviously. Like this organization hasn’t won the Stanley Cup before, that’s probably putting more pressure on (the players) as well. But it’s been unbelievable, I feel like the whole city wrapped around the team during the playoffs. It was fun to see. My kid’s going to school here. My family loves it here. It’s been just an awesome time like just enjoying it every single day for sure.”
There’s little doubt his agent was grinning from afar about his client’s performance in the playoffs, as well as the fit with the community.
He’s watched his client play a starring role in the playoffs. His play will have drawn interest beyond just Vancouver.
Vancouver was his client’s original choice, he’s said more than once.
But he also knows that the cap could be a challenge that prevents Milstein from getting the best deal he can for his client from the Canucks.
“He wants to stay in Vancouver and I hope to get a deal done but big Z will have many teams after him,” Milstein told Postmedia Friday.
As it stands, the Canucks have just over $26 million in cap space to work with. But they have a pile of free agents, both unrestricted and restricted, to make decisions on.
There’s Zadorov, who’s after a big raise from the US$3.75 million he made this past season. An unrestricted free agent, he could sign anywhere.
The Canucks have three other defencemen to consider as well. There’s Filip Hronek, who is a restricted free agent but with arbitration rights. He’s coming off such a strong season points-wise and deployment-wise, he’s got a strong arbitration case so one way or another he’s surely going to get a big raise over the $4.4 million cap hit he carried the past three seasons.
Veterans Tyler Myers and Ian Cole have both made it clear they’d like to return to Vancouver.
It’s a crowded situation, even before you get to the Oliver Ekman-Larsson buyout penalty. And then there’s some forwards that need to be sorted out, like Elias Lindholm, Teddy Blueger and Dakota Joshua.
And then there’s Allvin’s stated desire to add a top six-winger, which won’t be cheap.
That’s a lot of balls to juggle and reality suggests that Allvin just won’t be able to keep them all.
And so that comes back to Zadorov.
Given his size and physical play, his swashbuckling offensive game, his strong influence in the dressing room, plus the way he performed in the playoffs, you know he’s a favourite of head coach Rick Tocchet’s.
He’ll be pushing to retain the big bruiser.
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