Nikita Zadorov continues to learn, and his NHL education began in Buffalo

BUFFALO, N.Y. – It was in the locker room just down the hall, and it was in a different uniform. But for Nikita Zadorov, where he sat on Wednesday afternoon was close enough to relive one of the greatest memories of his young life.

October 19, 2013, almost five years ago now; Zadorov made his NHL debut against the… wait for it… Colorado Avalanche, as an 18-year-old for the Buffalo Sabres.

“I couldn’t sleep all night before the game,” Zadorov told BSN Denver, after a practice for his current team, the Avalanche, at KeyBank Arena. “It was fun, though. It was just… cool.”

Zadorov and the Sabres lost that game to the Avs, 4-2. Ryan O’Reilly, Gabe Landeskog, Matt Duchene and Paul Stastny scored the goals for Colorado, and how ancient does that sound? Alex Tanguay played in that game for the Avs. P.A. Parenteau played in that game for the Avs, as did John Mitchell and Marc-Andre Cliche and Corey Sarich. Patrick Roy coached the Avs in that game.

Zadorov had Sabres teammates that night such as Ryan Miller and Thomas Vanek and John Scott. It hasn’t even been five years, but it seems like 50. So much has changed, yet some facts about Zadorov remain the same: He’s still young, just 23. He’s still trying to learn how to be a consistently good NHL defenseman. The saying is it takes at least five years for a young D-man to really learn how to play, so we’re still not even there yet technically with the native of Moscow, Russia.

The fundamental truth: Zadorov is still learning, and right now he’s not the favorite pupil of his coach, Jared Bednar. After three games, Zadorov is a minus-3 for a 2-1-0 team, with no points, a fifth/sixth defenseman in Bednar’s rotation. It’s not just the plus-minus; For Bednar, it’s some of the same things he’s harped on with Zadorov before. Foot speed. Aggressiveness. Assertiveness.

“I don’t think he’s been great, to be honest,” Bednar told BSN Denver. “I really liked his opening night. But in the other (two) games, he’s been just OK. I think there’s some areas of his game he could improve —  the quickness of it, the physicality of it. It was there in game one. That’s sort of his base of play with me, when he’s skating, when he’s physical. The rest of his game comes in order. I’d like to see a little bit more of that.”

Asked how he thinks he’s played so far in this very young season, Zadorov answered thusly: “Not the way I wanted. But, you know, we’ve gotten two wins. That’s more important. Last night wasn’t a great night for us, but I think we’re gonna regroup and tomorrow will be a better game. We need to clean up a couple things, and we should be fine. Because, we’ve got a really talented team and all our lines and D pairs are set and our goalies are great. So, I cannot see why we cannot win.”

Big men like Zadorov walk a fine line with coaches. When he’s nasty and snarly, like he was in the season opener against Minnesota, when he uses his 6-foot-6, 230-pound frame to crush guys and then laugh in their face – like he did with Nino Niederreiter in the third period of a win – coaches love him. When he tries to be just as physical in another game, but maybe misses a check here or a positional assignment there, like he did in Tuesday’s game at Columbus, he draws as much attention to himself in the negative as the positive.

Zadorov seems patient with himself on this. He knows when he’s good and when he isn’t. He takes a longer view, ironically perhaps because of how young he was thrust into all of this. Other than a couple of trips to Chicago as a kid, he came to America for the first time in 2013, and while it has seemed like a long journey in some respects, Zadorov knows he has time still on his side.

“I’ve learned a lot over those five years,” he said. “The more you play, the more you’re in the league, the more you mature. It’s totally different.”

Zadorov was traded after two years with the Sabres, in the trade that sent O’Reilly to Buffalo. Those two years were filled with losing, but he retains a huge place in his heart for all things Buffalo.

“The people here were unbelievable, and I’m still thankful to them,” Zadorov told BSN Denver. “Those two years weren’t great for the team, but the fans were really loyal. They were still coming to the rink all the time, cheering for us. We had full houses pretty much every game. It’s a great hockey town.”

The only thing Zadorov didn’t love about Buffalo? Not a lot of Russian food to be had.

“My wife came in right away when I got here, so she cooked lots of Russian food,” Zadorov said. “But on any day off, we would drive to Toronto for good Russian food in a restaurant.”