Vancouver Canucks fans were left disappointed last summer when defenceman and fan favourite Nikita Zadorov signed with the rival Boston Bruins in free agency.
After a strong showing in the 2024 playoffs, many were hoping the 6’6″ defenceman would re-sign with the Canucks. However, negotiations between the team and the Russian blueliner were unsuccessful.
And it looks like there are still some hard feelings amongst management in Vancouver.
Speaking in a second interview with Gary Mason and The Globe and Mail, Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford confirmed the Canucks offered Zadorov matched all of his asks, and the defenceman still left in free agency, signing the same deal with the Bruins.
“At the end, Zadorov was talking close with Tocchet while Patrik [Allvin] was talking to his agent. Tocchet would ask him ‘what’s it going to take to keep you here.’ And Zadorov said he had to get his contract to US$5-million [annually] and then he’d be set. So we got him to US$5-million. But then there was still no deal.“So, Rick said to him ‘what’s going on?’ And then he said: ‘Well if I can get to six years then I’ll stay.’ Same process. We said okay. So twice in that process he said give me that one more thing and I’ll stay and then we give it to him and then he goes to Boston.”
On an episode of the What Chaos! Podcast in early October, Zadorov said that he had wanted to stay in Vancouver at first, but “a couple things didn’t go the way we wanted to, and [it] felt a little bit disrespectful, too.”
Then, in an interview with RG last week, he said playing in Vancouver was “probably the coolest six months of my career,” but expanded on why he decided to walk.
“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.”
Zadorov’s agent, Dan Milstein, took to Instagram to weigh in on the recent comments made by Rutherford:
“Seven months later and we’re still on this? 604 is a great city but some things are better left in the past…”
The Russian defenceman was dealt to the Canucks from the Calgary Flames on November 30, 2023, in exchange for a 2024 fifth-round pick and a 2026 third-round pick. He had five goals and 14 points in 54 games in Vancouver, adding four goals and eight points in 13 playoff games.
With the Bruins, Zadorov has just 11 points in 52 games and a career-high 115 penalty minutes so far this season. He will earn $5 million for the following five seasons, paying him until he’s 35 years old.