‘I’m here to help, I’m an added piece to a great team’: A Q&A with Newest Canuck Nikita Zadorov

What’s exciting to you about joining this group?

“It’s a great team,” said Zadorov. “The boys are playing really well this year. Obviously, we’re in the same division, so I’ve got to watch them before. I know a few guys that were on the enemy side but now they’re my teammates. So I’ve played with Ian Cole in Colorado, played with Tyler Myers in Buffalo my first two years, Pius Suter one year in Chicago, so I know them and all the Russians of course. We all get together in Florida in the offseason and have the same strength coach so we’re in the gym together. My wife and Ilya Mikheyev’s wife are good friends, so we hang out a lot in the summer, we’re like neighbours and see each other like every day. Andrei [Kuzmenko] and I grew up playing for the same minor hockey teams, his dad was my coach but Andrei was one year younger than me. It’s like five to eight guys that I know on the team so hopefully that will be an easy transition for me. And you can ask my teammates, I’m not a shy guy.”

What sticks out about this Canucks team to you?

“Quinn Hughes is probably a top-two defenceman in the league right now. And Elias or Elias, he’s having a great year, we have a different way to say Elias in Calgary with Lindholm,” said Zadorov with a laugh. “Brock Boeser is scoring a lot of goals. J.T. Miller is a leader on the ice and we have really good battles all the time, it was always a hard night to play against him, he’s a pretty competitive guy. And then Thatcher Demko has been playing so well. And it’s not just those guys, I’m super excited to join such a great team right now and the coaching staff is great too. I’ve only heard good things about Rick Tocchet, I’ve worked with Adam Foote in Colorado as he was a development coach when I was in my first couple of years in Colorado. I spoke with Sergei Gonchar on Thursday night and he was one of my idols when I was growing up. Gonchar is a super smart, intelligent coach and I think they can all help me help the team. I’m here to help, I’m an added piece to a great team.”

What about the size of this Canucks defence corps?

“Right now, it’s such a quick game and all of us big guys have reach and we need to use our sticks properly so that we can break plays in the defensive zone so we can spend more time in [the] offensive zone. Tyler, Carson and Ian are all good skaters and have good hockey IQ and we can chip in some offence too that’s always fun.”

We’ve known you as a player who throws the body around often, what do you like about playing a physical brand of hockey?

“I have the size to do it, I probably have 50 pounds extra on most guys in the league so I’m going to use it,” said Zadorov. “It’s part of my game to play physical and break plays that way. I enjoy it and in the past couple of years I’ve really improved my offensive game as well, I scored 14 goals last year so I don’t only bring hits, I can bring a two-way game for sure.”

How have you worked on becoming a strong skater?

“My parents put me in figure skating classes when I was a kid for seven years before I came to Junior hockey in the OHL. I do power skating in my summer workouts and if you do the right stuff in the summer, that’s going to increase your speed and keep your speed. I’m only 28 so I believe there’s another four or five years of improvement because I haven’t yet reached my goal and I think I’m not even close to finishing improving here. I think I can improve on a few particular [skating] things here.”

We know how beautiful Vancouver is as a city, what are your thoughts on coming to the West Coast?

“My draft was 2013 and Vancouver made the Cory Schneider trade for 9th overall and they were my favourite team but they picked Bo [Horvat] and Bo was my [London Knights] teammate so I was a bit jealous,” said Zadorov with a laugh. “But I still ended up in a good organization with [the] Buffalo Sabres. It’s definitely a dream to play for your childhood favourite team. It’s a great city. It’s got great restaurants. If you ask me about my 11 years [in the NHL], I would say Vancouver is a top-three road city for me for sure. I’m always enjoying my time, every time, so I think it’s perfect.”

What made you a Canucks fan as a kid?

“Markus Naslund and the Sedin brothers,” said Zadorov. “Naslund, I really like him a lot, I think he was definitely one of my favourite players.”

What can fans expect from you on the ice?

“I’m going to leave everything on the ice for my teammates,” said Zadorov. “There are no shortcuts for myself and I’m going to leave everything out on the ice and am going to hopefully help this team win something.”