It seems that Boston Bruins defenceman Nikita Zadorov looks back on his time with the Vancouver Canucks last season quite fondly.
Zadorov sat down in an interview with RG that was published on Tuesday, where he talked about how he was thriving in Boston, along with how he enjoyed his time in Vancouver.
“Those were probably the coolest six months of my career,” Zadorov told RG. “It’s a blast to play hockey there. The fans are awesome, the city is cool, the team is cool too. The team, the coaching staff – everything was super. Head coach [Rick] Tocchet, [Daniel and Henrik] Sedins, [Adam] Foote, [Sergei] Gonchar – wherever you look, there’s a Hall of Famer. You can learn a lot from everyone. When Sergei Gonchar came in, he worked a lot with all the defencemen individually. I think those six months were a big boost for my career; I changed a lot as a player.”
Zadorov grew up as a Canucks fan when he lived in Russia, so his story came full circle when the Canucks acquired him from the Calgary Flames in late November of 2023 for a third and fifth-round pick. Whether it was on the ice with the team or off the ice enjoying life in Vancouver, Zadorov enjoyed the experience.
“The playoffs in Vancouver were crazy in terms of atmosphere. I remember that before, the atmosphere during the Cup in San Jose, Nashville, Vegas, Edmonton, Calgary seemed really cool to me. But what happened in Vancouver was on another level,” said Zadorov. “In terms of energy, in terms of volume, in terms of how the city lived hockey. During the playoffs, you try to eat at home, but, when you go out for dinner, you don’t have a single chance to pay for it yourself. Either the restaurant owners will come over right away, or someone at the next table will pay for you. The city lived for hockey, and I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Zadorov had five goals and nine assists for 14 points in 54 regular season games with the Canucks, as well as four goals and four assists for eight points in 13 playoff games as Vancouver pushed the Edmonton Oilers to seven games in the second round before ultimately bowing out.
However, come summertime; he ultimately decided to move on to Boston, where he signed his current six-year contract with a $5 million cap hit, although Vancouver was interested in retaining him.
“Yes, Vancouver showed interest,” said Zadorov. “And in terms of money, it was basically the same contract that I got in Boston. Vancouver didn’t offend me, everything they offered was very good. There were a couple of moments in the negotiations that I didn’t like – both the way they were conducted and the way the information was presented to me. But that wasn’t the main thing.“In the end, when it was time to make a decision, we weighed everything up, and a couple of factors played into the fact that it was more comfortable for our family to play in the US than in Canada. You make a list and check off the boxes: this is more suitable here; this is more suitable there. In the end, we chose what was more relevant for hockey and more relevant for life.”
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