[ARTICLE] What it might take to sign Nikita Zadorov and if it makes sense for the Canucks

[Elias Pettersson]

1 hour ago, Coryberg said:

Yeah that was his PR statement that I'm sure Milstein hammered into him.

 

He was on after hours last week and without hesitation he said the red wings. His favorite players were Yzerman, McCarthy and the Russian 5.

 

Fast forward to the 10:20 mark...

 

 

 

You do realize that Zadorov was only a toddler when the Russian 5 were around right?  Zadorov was literally two years old when Yzerman won his first cup with the Russian 5.  He even said he talked to Foote who had to fill him in on all of the rivalries back then. 

 

He may have been a Red Wings fan when he was a toddler growing up in Russia, the Canucks sucked back then.  But he was a Canucks fan when Naslund and the Sedins were around in the 2000’s.  

 

Zadorov doesn’t seem like the type of guy to give a “PR’ statement. He always speaks his mind.  

 

When I was a small kid my favourite team was Boston.  I didn’t become a Canucks fan until later when I was like 10-11 years old and the Canucks were relevant. 

[Coryberg]

34 minutes ago, Elias Pettersson said:

 

Zadorov doesn’t seem like the type of guy to give a “PR’ statement. He always speaks his mind. 

He sure did. Check out the clip.

[N4ZZY]

I'm not sure if he resigns here to be honest. I think we need him, but it's going to be tough to fit him in under the cap with Hronek, Joshua, Blueger (though, him missing an empty netter really made me think he's not going to be that expensive to resign...), Myers, etc. We still need to find another forward to play with Petey. I can't see the team going into next season with Suter on Petey's wing. I don't think that would be fair for Pettersson. 

 

Still hopeful they sign Guentzel (without giving up assets), unless he resigns in Carolina before the end of the season. 

 

[wai_lai416]

11 hours ago, HKSR said:

I'm accounting for the fact players don't usually get EXACTLY what they ask for.  Reality is he asks for $5M x 5, Canucks come back at $4M and they land somewhere in between.  Let's say $4.6M x 5 = $23M.

 

So at $4.25 x 6 = $25.5, he's getting $2.5M more to sign that 6th year.  It's guaranteed money.  There's no guarantee on what happens 5 or 6 years from now.

 

He has also mentioned the Canucks were his favourite team growing up, so there's that too.

i still don't see him signing for 4.25 literally no raise if not bare minimal just based on the cap going up alone for his final lucrative contract thru his prime

[Alflives]

There will be a bottom feeder team (Habs?) that will overpay Big Z. 

[HKSR]

5 hours ago, wai_lai416 said:

i still don't see him signing for 4.25 literally no raise if not bare minimal just based on the cap going up alone for his final lucrative contract thru his prime

It won't be far off that mark if it's a 6 year deal.  If his ask is $5m x 5, it's highly unlikely he is getting $5m AAV.  It's not how a negotiation usually goes.

[wai_lai416]

9 minutes ago, HKSR said:

It won't be far off that mark if it's a 6 year deal.  If his ask is $5m x 5, it's highly unlikely he is getting $5m AAV.  It's not how a negotiation usually goes.

Sure but we don’t know the ask. It could be 5.5 for all we know. Just like the media have no clue what ep ask was or what the Canucks offered when they said they offered him 12x8 earlier in the season or off season. 

[HKSR]

4 minutes ago, wai_lai416 said:

Sure but we don’t know the ask. It could be 5.5 for all we know. Just like the media have no clue what ep ask was or what the Canucks offered when they said they offered him 12x8 earlier in the season or off season. 

$5m x 5 is already on the high side.  Not sure what comparable there is to justify that ask.  I highly doubt it's even higher than that.  There was a case for Petey to be $12m or so, even I thought he would get $12m+ based on comparables.  Zadorov doesn't have any that pushes him into the $5.5m range IMO.

[aGENT]

12 hours ago, RWJC said:

Riccio and Shaw in pre game indicating that they think it will be tough to make the dollars work to retain/extend  Z.

 

As an experiment some time, would like to see him paired on 2nd line for a couple games with Hronek as 2A. 
Z’s bounced around a bit in his career and given some glimpses up the line combos in that time, but wonder if at his age and experience he can contribute a little bit more responsibly and reliably. I’d like mgmt to lean on coaching a bit to see that this season before really engaging in any extension negotiations. Bit of a difference between paying $ and term for a 2nd line Dman than a 3rd and mgmt will have to squeeze value out of its dollars again next year, and perhaps more.
 

I’m hopeful, they’ve made some great choices that way this season. I think Z retained adds a nice balance to our D structure which can be built out even stronger next season in terms of how the $ are allocated. 

 

Needed to trade for Tanev (or similar) if you wanted to see that. We don't have a good option to play with Hughes, if you're moving Hronek off that pair. Maybe Cole in spurts but he's already showing some age issues playing lower down as is.

 

As for Zadorov, I think he likely lands somewhere around $4-$4.5+/- x 4-5 years. Modified NTC for the first 3'ish years.

Edited March 20 by aGENT

[RWJC]

1 hour ago, aGENT said:

 

Needed to trade for Tanev (or similar) if you wanted to see that. We don't have a good option to play with Hughes, if you're moving Hronek off that pair. Maybe Cole in spurts but he's already showing some age issues playing lower down as is.

 

As for Zadorov, I think he likely lands somewhere around $4-$4.5+/- x 4-5 years. Modified NTC for the first 3'ish years.

I believe Hughes can handle a different partner for a couple games down the stretch, especially considering that we should already be experimenting a bit to see what D combos can handle specific assignments together. Even if in practice. We may be fortunate into the playoffs and go without injury but likely not, and right now is the best time to research pairings imho.

as QH at his level now can elevate anyone he plays with, you never know what you might get. It’s not ideal with our roster which is still a work in progress but you have to work with what you have. 
Maybe even a QH Zaddy pairing might have some positives to it. Just spitballing, curious about our versatility. 

[Outsiders]

The fact they are wanting to bring back Myers over Z is scary. We need a guy on the back end that keeps the other team honest. Z is the only guy on the team that fights for his teammates. Manson for hit on Miller. CHI player for hit on Petey. We need this guy. C'mon Myers sucks. Let him leave the zoo and be free!!!

[The Duke]

1 hour ago, Outsiders said:

The fact they are wanting to bring back Myers over Z is scary. We need a guy on the back end that keeps the other team honest. Z is the only guy on the team that fights for his teammates. Manson for hit on Miller. CHI player for hit on Petey. We need this guy. C'mon Myers sucks. Let him leave the zoo and be free!!!

I think we’d all prefer Zadorov, all thing being equal, but there’s a few wrinkles.

 

First, we already have Hughes and Soucy both playing great in their own ways, making reasonable (but not cheap) deals.  The closer you get to 5 for Zadorov, you risk overpaying the left side of your D.  
 

Weigh that against a couple of vets like Cole and Dillon - both good in their own end and bring a lot of toughness despite not being Zadorov sized. Both could conceivably be had in the 3s if not even high 2s for a guy like Cole or if you throw in some term. 
 

Meanwhile, for Myers, it likely lets you go cheaper or shorter than any 2nd pair RD on the market - and the shorter contract leaves some flexibility for Willander (or while you look for an upgrade in other ways.)  Hes huge, still mobile and has alright skill.  He just kinda makes a lot of sense despite the mistakes.  
 

Not saying we can’t keep Zadorov.  It would be great.  But it’s pretty easy to see how we could save 1-2 mil by going Cole or Dillon for a year. 

Edited March 20 by The Duke

[N4ZZY]

1 hour ago, Outsiders said:

The fact they are wanting to bring back Myers over Z is scary. We need a guy on the back end that keeps the other team honest. Z is the only guy on the team that fights for his teammates. Manson for hit on Miller. CHI player for hit on Petey. We need this guy. C'mon Myers sucks. Let him leave the zoo and be free!!!

I think it's primarily because Myers is RHD, and Zadorov is a LHD. 

 

There are more lefties in the market, I'm assuming than righties. And from everything I know about Tocchet, he prefers that righty lefty 

[JeremyCuddles]

Interesting that Zadorov's fav player growing up was Yzerman. Considering Yzerman was 29 the year Zadorov was born. Lol. How much of his prime did he even get to watch? The Russian Five also weren't together very long after Zadarov was born, let alone long enough for him to have actually watched them. People say he doesn't have PR statements, but that comes off like a PR statement ngl. But I guess he went back and watched clips and highlights of them. Just weird a kid would do that instead of latching onto a modern prime player.

 

Regardless, 5mil is a bit too rich for my liking. But really all that matters is this season. If he helps bring us a cup, someone will give em 5mil.

[canuck73]

I think we sell Zadorov on playing on a winning team, give him some term and trade protection, and get him signed to favorable dollars... if he wants to win he will sign, if he just wants money and tests the market we don't really want him.

 

All and all I like what he brings to the table, but I really like big intimidating defenseman... add in the skating etc 

[N4ZZY]

1 hour ago, The Duke said:

I think we’d all prefer Zadorov, all thing being equal, but there’s a few wrinkles.

 

First, we already have Hughes and Soucy both playing great in their own ways, making reasonable (but not cheap) deals.  The closer you get to 5 for Zadorov, you risk overpaying the left side of your D.  
 

Weigh that against a couple of vets like Cole and Dillon - both good in their own end and bring a lot of toughness despite not being Zadorov sized. Both could conceivably be had in the 3s if not even high 2s for a guy like Cole or if you throw in some term. 
 

Meanwhile, for Myers, it likely lets you go cheaper or shorter than any 2nd pair RD on the market - and the shorter contract leaves some flexibility for Willander (or while you look for an upgrade in other ways.)  Hes huge, still mobile and has alright skill.  He just kinda makes a lot of sense despite the mistakes.  
 

Not saying we can’t keep Zadorov.  It would be great.  But it’s pretty easy to see how we could save 1-2 mil by going Cole or Dillon for a year. 

Man that would be an old blueline. Bigger risk for injuries. 

 

Cole's showing his age at this time of the season. Brenden Dillon is 33 years old. Myers is 32. We need some younger defenseman coming in. Zadorov is older, but he's around that age that I feel like management is looking at - 25-28 years old ish (if they can get younger than that, I think they take it, but that's rare). 

 

[N4ZZY]

34 minutes ago, JeremyCuddles said:

Interesting that Zadorov's fav player growing up was Yzerman. Considering Yzerman was 29 the year Zadorov was born. Lol. How much of his prime did he even get to watch? The Russian Five also weren't together very long after Zadarov was born, let alone long enough for him to have actually watched them. People say he doesn't have PR statements, but that comes off like a PR statement ngl. But I guess he went back and watched clips and highlights of them. Just weird a kid would do that instead of latching onto a modern prime player.

 

Regardless, 5mil is a bit too rich for my liking. But really all that matters is this season. If he helps bring us a cup, someone will give em 5mil.

I think he wants 5M, but I don't think he'll sign for that. I'm guessing probably 4.5 to maybe 4.75M? He might get less, but more security and term. 

 

[aGENT]

3 hours ago, RWJC said:

I believe Hughes can handle a different partner for a couple games down the stretch, especially considering that we should already be experimenting a bit to see what D combos can handle specific assignments together. Even if in practice. We may be fortunate into the playoffs and go without injury but likely not, and right now is the best time to research pairings imho.

as QH at his level now can elevate anyone he plays with, you never know what you might get. It’s not ideal with our roster which is still a work in progress but you have to work with what you have. 
Maybe even a QH Zaddy pairing might have some positives to it. Just spitballing, curious about our versatility. 

 

It's not Hughes I'm worried about.

[RWJC]

1 minute ago, aGENT said:

 

It's not Hughes I'm worried about.

I realize that. My point is within the F group we have seen many line combos and have a rough idea of who can play with whom if push comes to shove. 
We haven’t experimented that much this season with QH pairing and I think it wouldn’t hurt for a couple games. We need to know in advance how to best offset any injury issues on D, as well as determine if Z gets paid as a #4, 5 or 6. If he proves to be best as a 5/6 then we have no choice but to let him walk if his agent is looking for 4.5-5+. If he proves he has range as a competent and legit #4 he can then be counted on next season as a candidate to play up the lineup depending on whom we pick up in offseason. The reason I emphasize this is because of the limited funds to go around, potential prices of any UFA Dmen, what it would cost in assets to acquire what we need by trade, and to just be able to frame up for the offseason with a little more due diligence. Maybe mgmt already has their offseason game plan  in mind, which I assume they likely do, but we’ve given up assets for Z and Lindy and we should at least ensure one of them remains with the club going forward. Our D will be somewhat depleted and Z has already proven to be a solid fit. 

[The Duke]

1 hour ago, N4ZZY said:

Man that would be an old blueline. Bigger risk for injuries. 

 

Cole's showing his age at this time of the season. Brenden Dillon is 33 years old. Myers is 32. We need some younger defenseman coming in. Zadorov is older, but he's around that age that I feel like management is looking at - 25-28 years old ish (if they can get younger than that, I think they take it, but that's rare). 

 

I don’t disagree, but it’s still going to come down to cap hit.  
 

If you can get Dillon for 3 or Cole for even less that’s something they’re going to have to weigh against Zadorov who’s likely coming in around 4.5-5. 

[DownUndaCanuck]

Hughes - Hronek

Zadorov - Tanev

Soucy - UFA (Miller, Philippe Myers, Joshua Brown etc.)

 

There's a lot of good defensive options in free agency who would be better than Myers and Cole is surely going to be too old and slow for next year.

[Rusty Shackleford]

Guy is an absolute beauty.  Lock the man up!

[The Lock]

Zadorov's one I really hope we resign. He brings an element to our defense we wouldn't have otherwise. My prediction is that his presence will be felt come playoff time. Obviously, we'll see, but I have a hard time not seeing someone like him being integral in playoff runs.

[RWJC]

4 hours ago, DownUndaCanuck said:

Hughes - Hronek

Zadorov - Tanev

Soucy - UFA (Miller, Philippe Myers, Joshua Brown etc.)

 

There's a lot of good defensive options in free agency who would be better than Myers and Cole is surely going to be too old and slow for next year.

those options you speak of…whom else are you considering and any idea of what their price points might be?

Edited March 21 by RWJC

[J-23]

4.5x5

 

Hughes - Hronek

Soucy - Roy/Tanev/Myers

Zadorov - Juulsen

Hirose - Woo