Quote:
Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden
I used to live with an Avs fan and have watched some 150 games with Zadorov. That said I watched exactly zero last season.
But here is what I remember.
I start with the bad:
Zadorov loved taking low percentage shots from the point, forcing slap shots where perhaps a pass would suffice. Kind of like a Michael Stone. He obviously has a hammer for a shot, but these days you need a scalpel in most situations.
Secondly, Zadorov takes heaps of penalties. From what I remember the bulk of his PIMs were from roughings and from hits to the head. The latter was never always his fault, he is just bigger then your average player, and he loves taking the body.
The good:
He loves taking the body. Standing up forcheckers, slamming forwards into the corner and stepping up on guys taking bad passes. He loves it all. This guy hits.
As you can imagine he is a beast in the corner and in front of the net Zadorov is in the hurt business and he knows what pays his bills.
For a while the pairings were
Johnson - Barrie
Zadorov -Girrard
and I thought that worked really well. Zadorov is a strong skater for his size, but he is not going to move the puck up ice with speed. He is the prototypical stay of home D man you pair with a more mobile D man. He and Girrard paired well together, and I think that he would pair equally as well with someone like Valimaki, Kinnvall or Kyllington.
He is not an all instances player, he is a complimentary piece that will add lots of grit, and will allow smaller mobile D men not to get punished in the corners in their own zone.
TLDR/ If you can get over the penalties you can enjoy the physicality.
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Good summary, thanks.
One important thing to remember: he played on Colorado as a 21 to 24 year old. It takes defensemen time to learn how to be a good NHLer. Taking bad penalties and low percentage shots are easy things to improve on. Learning how to defend the cycle takes most guys years.
at 26, he is just entering his prime years