The Calgary Flames traded defenseman Nikita Zadorov to the Vancouver Canucks, the teams announced Thursday. Here’s what you need to know:
- Vancouver sent Calgary a 2024 fifth-round pick and a 2026 third-round pick in exchange for Zadorov.
- On Nov. 10, Zadorov requested a trade out of Calgary, according to league sources, where he welcomed a trade to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
- Through 21 games played in 2023-24, Zadorov has one goal and five assists. He was playing in his third season with the Flames.
Zadorov’s fit with the Canucks
Zadorov is probably a suboptimal fit in Vancouver over the medium-term, given that he’s a left-handed defender and the club’s greatest long-term need is on the right side of their defense corps.
Vancouver has often dressed four righties in recent games and will be without sturdy, left-handed blue liner Carson Soucy through at least the New Year. Short-term, Zadorov brings a level of credible NHL depth that Vancouver sorely needed to protect their start.
When Soucy returns, it will be fascinating to see how Vancouver manages their defense pairs, given coach Rick Tocchet’s preference for playing blue liners on their strong side. Zadorov can play the right side a bit, but has typically been a left-side only option in Calgary.
Those long-term considerations will be interesting to monitor, but there’s no doubt that Zadorov is going to immediately offer some sorely needed stability on the back end. — Thomas Drance, Canucks beat writer
The price paid for Zadorov
Vancouver effectively turned a 2026 third-round pick and Beauvillier — both his cap space, and the pick acquired from Chicago in Wednesday’s trade — into a significant depth upgrade on their back-end. That’s quality work and a modest price paid.
Although the club has spent perhaps too much in draft capital for depth players over the past few months, any reasonable cost-benefit analysis of such a strategy has to account for how well Vancouver has played for the first two months of the season.
This team was trending toward being a buyer at the NHL trade deadline anyway, and a third-round pick for a solid, physical expiring blue liner is roughly market price. Getting the deal done now is effectively just jumping the market at a particularly high-leverage moment for the club, given how the team’s form has sagged over the past few weeks, and their significant need for blue-line help.
Overall it’s a modest price, for a useful player. And a solid maneuver for a team that’s clearly intent on finding ways to sustain the early season form that has them battling the likes of Vegas and Los Angeles at the apex of the Pacific Division through the first quarter of the campaign. — Drance
What this move means for Calgary
Some Flames fans will understandably see this as a light return compared to their expectations. Over two weeks ago, it was suggested via collaboration with Harman Dayal that the Flames could want a third-round pick or a young player as a possible return for Zadorov in a trade. Calgary gets their third-rounder, but they can only use it in 2026. Instead, the Flames’ only 2024 pick from the deal is a fifth-rounder.
The return is one thing, but the most surprising aspect about this trade is that it happened as fast as it did. Yes, Zadorov asked for a trade. But the Flames were under no obligation to complete it as fast as he, or his agent Dan Milstein, would have wanted. Milstein even confirmed to The Athletic that there was no deadline imposed by him for a trade to be consummated. Craig Conroy has been more than fine with a wait-and-see approach with his pending UFAs since becoming Flames GM. This feels a bit like a counterpunch to that thinking. Even if Zadorov never had the same potential value compared to Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin.
If the Flames had waited until the March 8 trade deadline, they ran the risk of their asset’s value fluctuating depending on his play or health. But there was also a chance that they’d get a better return. Flames fans can only wonder now. If it’s any consolation, Calgary managed to get draft picks for a third-pairing defenceman. It remains to be seen how the Canucks will use Zadorov, but the Flames can at least say they got something for a player not regularly in their top-four defensive core.
Earlier this week, the Flames called up Jordan Oesterle who can make up for the loss of Zadorov. But the team specified in their release that the move would make room for one of their “young prospects to prove himself in the NHL.” In terms of defensive prospects, is that Jérémie Poirier’s music once he’s healthy? Ilya Solovyov already has two NHL games under his belt, so he’s another candidate for full-time NHL minutes.
It’s a move with an eye for the future and every Flames’ trade going forward should have that same mindset. Perhaps we just didn’t think this domino would fall this soon. — Julian McKenzie, Flames beat writer
Required reading
(Photo: Sergei Belski / USA Today)
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2023-12-01 00:52:52Z
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