NHL Insider Reveals the Canucks Could Bring Back Nikita Zadorov with Trade

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Cooper Godin
November 21, 2024 (1:02 PM)

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Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman wondered recently if the Vancouver Canucks could have a reunion with Nikita Zadorov, who left the team in free agency back in July.

As the Vancouver Canucks continue their search for a top-four defenseman on the trade market, there will be more and more options available to them as the weeks ago by, especially once teams decide if they're more likely to buy or sell at the deadline.

The Canucks have been linked to a number of defesemen recently including Marcus Pettersson, Rasmus Andersson, MacKenzie Weegar and on Wednesday, Mike Matheson.

Potential reunion with former Canucks blueliner Nikita Zadorov?

As mentioned, there won't be a shortage of options available to the Vancouver Canucks, especially if they can hold out a bit longer and see what happens in the month of December.

In Thursday's 32 Thoughts article on Sportsnet, Elliotte Friedman wondered if there could be a reunion between the Vancouver Canucks and defenseman Nikita Zadorov.

Friedman said it would make sense because he was a good fit and the Vancouver Canucks clearly miss him on their blue line this season.

"Weird idea that may only make sense to me: Nikita Zadorov back to Vancouver. No idea if even possible, or if anyone would want it, but he was a good fit and the Canucks miss him." Friedman said.

It would be a bit tricky to bring Nikita Zadorov back given he signed a massive six-year contract with the Bruins back on July 1st that sees him earn $5 million per season.

For a Nikita Zadorov reunion in Vancouver to happen, the Boston Bruins would not only have to retain a portion of his salary, but also take a contract back, such as Nils Hoglander along with a blueliner, potentially Vincent Desharnais or Derek Forbort.

This would also only happen if the Boston Bruins would be willing to move on from the Moscow, Russia native, who has five assists and 46 penalty minutes in 20 games this season.

Boston hasn't had a very good season so far, which led to the firing of Jim Montgomery earlier this week, but there hasn't been any indication as of yet if they're willing to off-load players via trade to re-tool the roster a bit, while trying to remain competitive.

We'll have to wait and see what the coming weeks and months bring on the trade market but there's one thing that seems certain - the Vancouver Canucks will be adding a top-four defenseman at some point.