With the Calgary Flames on the brink of being extinguished, Nikita Zadorov recently demanded a trade out of Calgary. Monday on Daily Faceoff Live, Matt Larkin and Steven Ellis discuss some possible fits for the monster Russian defenseman.
Matt Larkin: It was quite the story. Right after the game, hulking defenseman Nikita Zadorov requested a trade out of Calgary after he lost to the Leafs. He requested the trade via his agent Dan Millstein immediately, and of course, for a player of that size that can play a shutdown role, there will be many suitors. Who do you think is the best possible fit?
Steven Ellis: I just hope for everyone’s sake he’s traded soon. I feel like the discourse around him has been nuts, you’d think he’s a top d-man in the league. From what I’m thinking, a lot of people seem to say Toronto, as that’s where the headline was made. Vancouver could be a target, realistically, the Oilers could use him but there’s no way that would happen. One team I’m looking at is the New Jersey Devils, I like their team and their defensive depth but this is a team that could go all the way.
Steven Ellis: We know you don’t need to be No. 1 in the league to win the cup. But, Zadorov would be a nice upgrade to Brendan Smith. They’d have to make some cap space to get the numbers to work, roughly $2 million, but there’s less pressure then for a rookie like Simon Nemec to come in and alleviate in case of injury. You can have Zadorov who can play physical, shutdown hockey. If he was on the third pairing, that’s scary, him and Luke Hughes together potentially. I would like that as a personal fit.
Matt Larkin: Interesting, he would almost be a rich man’s Kevin Bahl in that system. Vancouver was the team I had in mind just because I think they need to clean up their defensive play, Demko has been masking that and Carson Soucy has now been banged up a couple of times. I think you could have some nice insurance there with Zadorov as a fit for Vancouver.
More must-reads: