By now you know disgruntled Calgary Flames defenceman Nikita Zadorov has requested a trade. There are two questions to be asked here: First, will Bruins GM Don Sweeney make a phone call? Second, should Sweeney make a phone call?
Question one is the easiest to answer, and that answer is yes. Even if it is just a courtesy call to his counterpart in Calgary, Craig Conroy. Part of Sweeney’s duties as GM is to make these calls not only to find out the asking price, but to see if there is something else there or for future reference in other negotiations.
But the question of whether they should, is a complicated one.
Back during the 2012-2013 season when Zadorov was skating for the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League, there was a lot of over-hyping. I didn’t buy into it then, but in fairness to Zadorov, he has turned in a decent NHL career.
The 2013 NHL Entry draft wasn’t a particularly strong one for blueliners. Zadorov was the sixth defenceman taken in the draft and I would argue that only one, Shea Theodore, chosen after him in the first round has had a better career to date. And while the five defencemen chosen ahead of him aren’t exactly superstars, I wouldn’t trade any of them for Zadorov. It’s just what the draft class was.
Zadorov’s next team will be his fifth in the NHL. That must speak for something. He was part of the package the Buffalo Sabres sent to the Colorado Avalanche in the Ryan O’Reilly deal in 2015. In 2020, the Avs shipped him off along with Anton Lindholm to the Chicago Blackhawks for Brandon Saad and Dennis Gilbert. Just 9 months later Chicago traded him to Calgary for a third-round pick.
There is no question Zadorov will add something the Bruins have been missing since Kevan Miller retired. It is no doubt, a missing element. Is adding that element worth risking downgrading other elements of your blueline?
What we do know is the Sweeney likes to try and extend his acquisitions into longer term deals. From the outside looking in, I don’t see how Zadorov fits. Hampus Lindholm is locked up long term. Many are making the argument Mason Lohrei should be on the squad permanently right now. But even if Lohrei is a year away from regular duty, are you acquiring Zadorov for a third pairing role? Zadorov is currently earning $3.75 million against the cap and is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. He will certainly be looking for a deal north of $4 million per and on a long-term deal. His longest deal to date was his entry level contract.
Someone is going to have to explain to me how any of that makes sense and we haven’t even touched on the cost to acquire Zadorov.
Plenty of suggestions I have seen from the Bruins faithful is to include Matt Grzelcyk or Jake DeBrusk in the deal. While its true that to make the cap work, one of them would have to be included – and I have no idea what Calgary’s asking price is – but the Flames would have absolutely zero interest in pending unrestricted free agents going back the other way. The Flames cap situation is even more dire than the Bruins and I would suggest that they’d be more interested in a young, cost controlled return who at worst is a pending restricted free agent or will be when their contract expires.
Conroy has already publicly stated that he will make the deal on his own terms in his own time frame. They are in no rush to make a deal and anything can happen along the way. Remember DeBrusk?
This was supposed to be a transition year for the Bruins. They are 11-1-2 and in no rush to make a deal. And in a transition year, they should absolutely stick to their plans unless something drops on Sweeney’s lap that clearly makes the team better for this season and beyond.
This isn’t the deal.
Dom - Hockey 