I really grew to like Zadorov as a Flame but I think he thrives in sheltered minutes with reliable defensive partners. I am not sure that he’ll get that in Vancouver and it could lead to some serious adjustment issues and could damage his value as he heads to free agency.
If Milstein really wanted to maximize Z’s value, he might have been better recommending Z to stay in Calgary and continue to play quality minutes rather than quantity minutes. Letting teams imagine him as a top four defenseman might prove to be a better strategy than forcing him into top four minutes on a team with a system that he isn’t familiar with and partners that he has no chemistry with.
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