Yeah he comes across as a very smart funny guy. I don't think I do him justice, but I am almost done the next part. A lot of fascinating tidbits, at least for me.
It’s a pretty honest interview in my opinion. Lots of stuff about what a young guy thinks about and goes through in the early stages of the career.
Part 3 – 2021 World Hockey Championship, Olympics, Taxes and Escrow, Barkov, NHL game management, Zadorov’s injuries
• Looking at the Hockey World Championship. Before the game against Canada Fetisov said: “guys don’t worry, we got this”. Unfortunately, things ended the way they did. What in your mind was our team missing? And what is the biggest problem that you can see with Russian hockey right now?
o Well, we were thinking along the same lines as Fetisov before the game. I won’t say that Canada had a bad team(for Canada’s standards), we lost for a reason. I think that we were afraid to play, we screwed the pooch. After getting the 1-0 lead, I was reminded of the Italy-England game in soccer. What I mean by that is that we scored, and we were praying we wouldn’t get scored on. We stopped attacking/generating chances taking risks and playing our game. We simply try to play defensively and hold the lead. In OT we were masterfully outplayed.
• Was there silence in the dressing room after the game?
o Yes, of course. I can judge based on my expectations from this tournament. I had only the highest expectations from myself. I went there to win it all.
o Whenever your expectations are not met, it’s hard to deal with. Especially in hockey, you hate to lose. It can get very difficult for a couple of days, but life goes on.
o I think I still have more world championships/Olympics/Stanley cups in my future so I look forward to those.
o You need to use that experience and move forward.
• Will the NHL players participate in the winter Olympics?
o I hope so.
o I just think that Garry Batman wants a little more money. Get some more money for himself, for everyone, save a little on insurance.
o I am 80% sure that we will go. We have it written in the agreement we signed with the owners right before the bubble. It states that they have to release us for the Olympic games.
• Are you paying 20% escrow right now for the league losses?
o We always paid escrow. Now it’s double.
o The escrow before used to be around 10%, and if good teams made the playoffs it was as low as 6-7%.
o Because of the losses and the 50/50 agreement we have escrow at 20% for one more year. After which it would be reduced to 16%, followed by 3 years of 6%.
• Lately I was told that you guys get less than 50% of the agreed upon contract value, is that true?
o This year we were getting around 25% of the actual contract.
o The us federal tax is around 37%
o CHI(Illinois) state tax was around 6%
o Escrow was 20%
o And the owners get an additional 10%, that we will get back in 3 years to help with the league’s cash flows, with COVID.
o So we’re left with 28-30%, and get some tax returns for 4-5%.
• Does Texas have the lowest taxes?
o Yes Texas, doesn’t have a state tax at all.
o We have 6% in Illinois, just like Colorado.
o Florida, Nevada, Tennessee, Texas, and maybe Seattle(Washington) don’t have state taxes.
o The highest taxes are in California, there the players pay an additional 12%
o In Canada it’s even higher as in MTL they pay an additional 14%. Or something like 15% higher than Texas.
• During Covid did the NHL players themselves gather money for the AHLers to help them out?
o I haven’t heard of it.
o Says that some AHL teams were closed for the season, other AHLers were getting paid 50% of their contracts.
• Canada can make 5-6 good hockey teams, Russia can’t despite being bigger. Why do you think that happens?
o Says it’s a very philosophical question. It depends on the number of rinks in the country.
o It also depends on the sports kids are more exposed to.
o The financial aspect also plays a part. Says his friend’s son plays AA and it is costing them around 7000 a year. How many people in Russia can afford that?
• Some more politics I’m skipping
• Russia doesn’t have any offensive defensemen?
o We only have Sergechev as an offensive D-man and maybe Romanov.
o We don’t have someone like Burns or Karlsson.
o We are taught to play more defensively in Russia.
o When we leave, they teach us to play a bit differently.
o From my experience playing for the Red Army, I was told to pass the puck to Kucherov or Gusev and they will figure it out. If a defenseman skates the puck out past the red line he sits.
• Some London Knights/kids/renovations/playing for CSKA I’m going to skip.
• Barkov talk, why do you think he is a top 3 center in the league?
o He plays for 24 mins/game.
o He takes all the faceoffs in his own and the opponent’s zone.
o He plays the first PP, first PK
o Plays against the top players on the other team and still manages to get 80 points a season.
o He does everything well
o McDavid for example doesn’t play the PK, makes mistakes defensively and so on.
o Talked to Barkov’s Defensemen in Florida, they say he’s always in position, so they have nothing to worry about.
• What about corruption in the NHL, what do you think about the mic’d up referee incident? Also do you think any of the players in the NHL could be corrupt?
o I don’t see players throwing games. If you play bad or you’re not ready to play you’ll be gone within a week. That’s a very short conversation.
o As for the referee. First of all, I absolutely hate that ref. Tim Peel was my least liked referee in the game. I’ll try not to say too many bad things about him.
o We have a term called “game management” in the NHL. They don’t judge the game from the play. They try to even out the number of penalties each team takes.
o It’s a big business project to keep the intrigue going.
o I don’t how I feel about it. I still think that the NHL has the best hockey referees, and the level of refereeing in general is very high.
o For example, while at the WC, he and the boys were debating the Scheifele hit in the playoffs. Everyone has a different opinion. He thinks that it was a good physical hit. And that yes it was a bit dirty, trying to kill the guy, but those are the playoffs. The player should’ve kept his head up because he was playing hockey not curling. He thinks that the physicality is a part of the game and players should be ready.
o Suspensions shouldn’t be handed out based on injuries.
• With all the injuries you suffered are you back to 100%?
o Yes, my face is alright, but it came out a bit crooked. The wife is giving him a hard time for losing his pretty face.
o More seriously, it was quite a painful process with my face. I got hit by a puck when Johansson was dumping it in. It hit me straight in the face, I fell, everyone saw it. Everyone stopped playing, they were calling for the doctors, and there was no whistle. I lay there and counted…1…2…3… no whistle… 4 … no whistle… okay that means I must play. I get up, we’re on the PK I couldn’t leave my team down a man. I was playing defensively until we cleared the puck and I skated to the bench.
o A week later another person was hit with a puck, and Vancouver scored as he was laying on the ice. Everyone started complaining, so now they changed the rules. You can even say I contributed to changing the rules in the NHL.
o When I got to the dressing room I feel that my lower jaw teeth are crooked a top each other. I asked them to stitch me up so that I’m ready for the 2nd period. Something was taking time, so by the mid of the second I see we’re down 3-2. At the end of the 2nd we were winning 8-3, that’s when I told the med staff they can save me for next time. To which they told me that I couldn’t have played anyways because the x-ray was showing a broken jaw.
o I had to do a surgery the following day, they put in two titanium plates with 9 or 10 screws into my jaw. I got lucky I only broke the chin part of my lower jaw so I could still chew. I ended up drinking protein shakes for a few days, then switching to soup, rice, and things like that. It’s very important so you don’t lose weight strength an so on.
o One of the stitches fell out, so the wound couldn’t heal. After a couple of weeks, I felt one of the plates begin to come out because of it. They decided that my jaw was healed enough and can be supported with just one plate.
o I agreed to taking it out, but without anesthetic, because I felt sick for 2 days from the stuff that they used on me before. They numbed the area with an injection, made a cut, and took a regular screwdriver to take it out of my jaw. It wasn’t the most fun experience because I had to keep my neck flexed to deal with all the pressure from the screwdriver and the unscrewing.
o They took out the plate and 4 screws and I went on my way.
o I was hit with the puck on a Thursday, had the surgery on Friday, a rest day Saturday, I trained on Sunday, and played on Monday. I just missed one day as a result.
o As for my wrist, I had torn ligaments there for two years. In the bubble I got hit from behind, and a tendon was torn.
o The wrist was okay after the surgery, but I didn’t have enough time to get it back to speed before the season started. I needed an extra month before the season to get it’s strength to 100%. I was playing with my wrist feeling about 60-70% strength wise.
Last edited by gvitaly; 08-04-2021 at 08:45 PM.
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Zadorov seems very intelligent and thoughtful as well as unafraid to say his mind.
Yes, he does. That was a part of why I wanted to share it with you all. The last part would have tidbits about McKinnon, and Keith. Some things I haven't heard anywhere before.
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Russian interviews are much better than what we get here. I remember this from working in Moscow before law school. There would be these massive, in-depth, thoughtful interviews in the sports paper. I think it goes back to Soviet days (and now with Putin) - the best reporters wound up in sports often because there was less propaganda and more freedom to work your craft...
Part 4 – Best players in the NHL, MacKinnon, Keith, Vasilevskiy
• Who are the 3 best NHL players in your mind?
o I was ready for that question.
o I have a first place is a tie between MacKinnon and McDavid. Then there’s a huge gap with second place.
o Those guys are just on another level, it’s crazy. McDavid always has more points, but I think that MacKinnon would’ve put up similar numbers in the North division.
• What makes them so good?
o They are very different players.
o McDavid is very light out there, he can fly all over the ice. He doesn’t really get involved in the physical battles too much.
o Nate is a tank; he goes through people. He is a power skater, much more agile on his turns. McDavid has wider turns, but crazy acceleration.
o I have never played with McDavid, I only trained with him for a week in Toronto. He knows how to do everything well. I have no idea how he achieved it, you’ll have to ask him.
• Nate Mackinnon
o I saw the progression in Nate’s game. He is such a pro. He has a dietologist he pays $50,000 a year. He has a live in doctor/physiotherapist in his house during the season, he pays him $1,000 each day, in addition he rents him an apartment. He has his own chef, who he pays another $100,000 a year. He simply invests in him self and his own body so he can play at the highest level.
o He’s crazy that way, he eats right. He doesn’t drink. He drinks only water. Two years ago, in Colorado, he got rid of all the pop/ice-cream/deserts. He got rid off them from the dressing room, and pre-game meals. He even got rid of white sauce(carbonara) for pasta. He replaced the actual pasta itself with chickpea pasta, that has more protein and so on.
o He made pros out of our entire Colorado team. That’s one of the reasons that Colorado got such an improvement in performance over the last couple of years.
o He says: “Guys if you want to eat that crap, you have the off-season for that. When you come here, there will be none of that because we’re winning the cup”. All the young guys see it, look up to him, and try to do their part.
o Nate is like MJ, I don’t want to make a direct comparison, but his way of thinking is very similar to MJ. He can be a jerk to his teammates/linemates. You need to accept that, and it would improve you as a hockey player as a result. If you can’t accept it, well you’re off the team.
o He is always the hardest working guy. He comes out 30mins before practice, constantly working on his hands. Young guys see that he’s the best player in the NHL, and he still works to improve. It motivates them to work even harder.
o If you miss a pass in practice he would skate over and literally scream at you. You can’t pass him the puck without hitting his stick. We had young players come over during the playoffs. If the puck ends up in his skates, not even his skates, if it misses his stick by a tiny bit, like 15cms in front of the blade of his stick. He doesn’t move his stick to catch the puck. He stops everything, turns around and slaps the puck back at you. He is not going to try to receive any puck he doesn’t like during practice. Just to show you, that you made a ####ty pass.
o He is a guy that demands that everyone leaves everything out there, to maximize their abilities.
o There are many players that didn’t get along with him, or don’t get along with him still.
o For me we always had a good relationship. I could always answer him/push back. It energized both of us.
o We had it come to fights/and almost fights, a bunch of yelling. He absolutely hates to lose. I have a story from a pre-bubble intersquad game, our team with the 3rd and 4th line won against their team with the 1st and 2nd line. Mostly because the ice was terrible after the summer, and it was very difficult to make a play. So I end up celebrating our win in front of him, showing off a little bit. He got so mad, began screaming and swearing at me. We ended up screaming it out at each other a bit. Long story short after the shower, I go to my car sit there and get a text from him. “Sorry, Z I was out of line, you know how much I hate to lose”. He’s crazy that way at the moment he just sees red, and can’t control himself, then he comes back to earth. It’s all because of the competitor he is. Personally, it energizes me being around him.
• What about Duncan Keith?
o Keith is also crazy but in a different way. For example, we all have 1-2 pairs of skates for a game. He has 9 pairs! He has them all numbered. He can come to a guy and ask him to try on his skates. He tries them on and says: “oh they're nice, today I’m playing in your skates”.
o He can change everything before a game. He has 9 sticks. We were making fun of it – each of his 9 sticks has a different curve, different flex, and different length. In the pre-game the equipment manager takes out all his sticks puts them on the bench, he tries out each one to see which one he’ll pick. He tests the flex takes a couple of shots and so on. Calvin De Haan and one of the doctors would gamble on which stick he would pick before each game, as they were all numbered. After Keith picks a stick, he plays with it for the entire game. However, if he misses one pass, or makes a mistake. He skates to the bench yelling to the equipment manager: “Jamie, give me a new stick” breaking the old one.
o He uses a whole roll of tape to tape his skates. Then mid game he says it’s not tight enough and uses a second roll of tape. It’s hilarious when you watch it.
o He is a very cool person. A great guy. He likes to prank the young guys.
o He travels with a suitcase of vitamins/tablets/supplements. He knows exactly which supplements he needs to take and when. He has a portable sauna he takes with him. You build it in your hotel room plug it in, and it covers your whole body up to the neck.
o He is always in shape and ready physically. He plays at an amazing level especially for a 38-year-old.
• Back to the 3 best players. Who gets second place?
o I think it would have to go to Vasilevsky.
o I was shocked this year. We played Tampa 8 times this year. We outplayed them in 5 or 6 games. He was just winning games for them.
o We had no chance of scoring on him.
o His team was playing like ####, and he just decides to take over a game.
o Tampa didn’t even bother playing their A game in the regular season. Now that they started playing their A game in the playoffs, no one is going to beat them.
o 3rd place goes to Barkov. I already explained why.
There was more stuff, but I think I will stop here. Hope you all enjoy the interview as much as I did.
Last edited by gvitaly; 08-04-2021 at 08:46 PM.
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Great read, gvitaly! Hope you can do more transcripts in the future, as the Russian interviews really have a behind-the-scenes feel.
I'll try, but they're definitely time consuming. I just posted the rough draft, so I apologize for all the typos and grammar mistakes. I am just too tired to catch all of them right now. I tried to stick as closely as possible to the way he was wording things. That can be difficult at times, because you structure sentences differently in English an Russian.
I just wanted to convey he is far from a big dumb stay at home defensemen, and I hope he will be a great addition to the Flames for years to come.
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Russian interviews are much better than what we get here. I remember this from working in Moscow before law school. There would be these massive, in-depth, thoughtful interviews in the sports paper. I think it goes back to Soviet days (and now with Putin) - the best reporters wound up in sports often because there was less propaganda and more freedom to work your craft...
My wife speaks Russian and I learned very quickly that her answers are direct, to the point and no fear of backlash. That is how she rolls when asked questions. None of the timid PR crap you get from Western people being interviewed.
What a great interview and translation. Thank you for that gvitaly! Candidate for post(s) of the year.
Zadorov seems like a great dude. Love knowing that he takes his physical fitness so seriously that he would rather train in North America because he knows he'll be out partying in Moscow gaining weigh. A very smart man and I think not only fans, but the locker room is going to love him. Took a nice shot at McD about his lack of defense and straight up says Tim Peel is a tool. Love it! He also mentioned he knows his worth so I feel his contract is going to be fair and BT will get good value out of that.
Looking forward to some Sutter magic helping him get to the next level. He's at exactly the right age and fitness level for a player in his position to take the next step. Can't think of a better coach then D. Sutter to guide him there.
Probably my favorite acquisition this off-season (outside of Eichel if/when he comes here).
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I wish this team had a Mackinnon from time to time. And I don’t even mean the talent side.
The Flames very clearly have zero players on this roster that hate to lose like Mackinnon, and it's a big problem. I'm sure guys like Johnny and Tkachuk are the closest and hate losing the most. But hating to lose like Mackinnon does, that is completely on another level. I can see why some guys would hate having a teammate like that. But that very similar to the MJ comparisons; he hated to lose and was a giant dick, but walked the talk and brought you championships. Mackinnon is a perennial hart candidate so as a fan I would have no issue with a player on my team being like that as long as he backed it up on the ice.
Funny stuff about Keith too. I want to see this sauna-in-a-suitcase you can build in your hotel room .
Last edited by Huntingwhale; 08-03-2021 at 04:03 AM.
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