The Vancouver Canucks made waves on Thursday night when they acquired defenseman Nikita Zadorov from the Calgary Flames via trade.
A conditional fifth-round pick in 2024 and a third-round pick in 2026 went the other way. The fifth-round pick was acquired by the Canucks when they traded Anthony Beauvillier to the Blackhawks on Tuesday. The condition is the Flames will receive the best of the fifth-round picks that Chicago owns.
It is a statement move by Vancouver, showing that they want to ride this hot start well into the spring. Even with battling through some injuries on the back end, they have proved vigilant in the opening two months of the season. They are currently second in the Pacific Division, three points back of the Vegas Golden Knights.
On Friday’s episode of "Daily Faceoff LIVE," Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk broke down the move, and why it will pay off for the Canucks.
Frank Seravalli: For the first time in Patrick Allvin and Jim Rutherford’s tenure in Vancouver, they finally have salary cap flexibility. Then, using that flexibility…and get another bonafide NHL defenseman. Now, adding in a big 6-foot-6 piece in Zadorov, who can play physically, bring a different element, and if you don’t need him to play in the top-four, [Zadorov’s] certainly a well-qualified third-pair defenseman. It makes a ton of sense.
Tyler Yaremchuk: You look at that blue line, and it’s fully healthy, everyone is going to be slotted in almost perfectly, and Zadorov does have the ability to play up your lineup a little bit. Another thing I love about this is that they got ahead of it. You’re getting 55 games of Nikita Zadorov versus waiting until the trade deadline and getting 20-some-odd games of Zadorov, or whoever you would’ve gotten.
You can watch the rest of the segment, and the full episode here.
More must-reads: