Examining Nikita Zadorov’s next deal with the Canucks and more: Canucks Conversation
7 months ago
On today’s episode of Canucks Conversation, David Quadrelli and Harman Dayal recapped a busy weekend for the Vancouver Canucks and looked at what a new deal for Zadorov might look like.
Vancouver kicked off a 4-game road trip on Saturday in Minnesota, picking up a single point in a 2-1 shootout loss followed by a 4-3 victory over Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.
Quads noted the performance of the Canucks’ 3rd line over the weekend, with Blueger scoring Vancouver’s lone goal on Saturday followed by another strong showing on Sunday.
“Anytime the Canucks have a sleepy start, this (third) line is able to jolt them awake like they’re a can of Red Bull,” Harm added. “The game against Minnesota was a really rough start; the Canucks were struggling to create anything five on five, and all of a sudden, it’s that line that gets them going. They hound the puck and create quick-strike offence off of it.”
“We’ve seen Pius Suter getting a shot in the top six as a winger on the Pettersson line,” Quads continued “I don’t know how much I liked that look, but his forecheck led to a pretty decisive goal in the Chicago game. You can see that Suter not only set up the goal but right before that also set up Pettersson in the middle for a prime scoring opportunity by being the first on the puck, going in hard on the forecheck, and getting the puck to Pettersson. If he can keep doing that, I think he’s going to have a home on that line.”
The guys then moved onto their fan question segment, especially what a contract extension for Nikita Zadorov might look like.
“In free agency, the Canucks went out and got Soucy and said, ‘Yeah, he’s played bottom-four minutes, but we think he can play top-four minutes and be successful at the NHL level.’ I would look at that as a comparable. If I were going to extend Zadorov… The highest I would go is 3, maybe 4 years at 4.5. What do you think here, Harman?”
“To me, it’s too early to project what he might make or even if it makes sense to extend him,” Harm replied. “We’ve only had Zadorov for around ten games; we want to see how it looks with Soucy in the lineup, and what’s your confidence level in at least one of them being able to hold down a top-four role during the team’s contention window? That’s essentially the bet if you’re going to commit a combined 6-7 million to two left-shot defensemen who are pretty similar on a talent level.
Harm noted the Canucks should be thinking beyond this season when it comes to extending their recently acquired defenseman: “If you head into the offseason looking at the big picture and you’re thinking about adding another true high-end defenseman, someone who is a clear tier above Zadorov, Soucy, Cole type of tier, you might want the flexibility if a left-shot defender of that profile becomes available.”
“This blueline has been functioning well lately, but I don’t think it’s at the level of a contender. Even today, if you were to show me the Soucy contract, I would be thinking hard and long about if it’s actually a fit, even though I’ve liked what he’s brought to the table so far.”
The guys wrapped up the show with some more fan questions.
You can watch the replay of today’s episode in the video below:
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