On Tuesday, former Calgary Flames defenceman Nikita Zadorov joined John Scott on the Dropping the Gloves podcast to talk about his career up this point with his former teammate in Scott.
Through the interview, he spoke about his time in Calgary and why things didn’t work out, which eventually led to his trade to Vancouver in late November. So let’s dive in and see what Zadorov had to say about what went down in Calgary before becoming a Canuck.
Zadorov turned down other offers to stay in Calgary in 2022
Before we get to the meat and potatoes in this interview, I wanted to quickly touch on what Zadorov had said regarding wanting to stay in Calgary during the 2022 offseason. The Flames were still trying to get contracts finalized with Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk (prior to both of them leaving), and management had told Zadorov that he would have to wait before discussing a new contract as Zadorov himself was also an unrestricted free agent.
Zadorov said that he had offers from other teams but he told them that he wanted to wait and see what the Flames were going to do as he wanted to be a Flame before anything else. Obviously, on the infamous day of July 13, 2022, Gaudreau signed in Columbus and later that night, Zadorov inked a two-year deal with Calgary.
That was almost two years ago, but I think it was still a great story from Zadorov’s end, where he saw the team’s best player leave (and the other was just about to go) and still stuck around. He wanted to be a Flame, and they made that happen.
Why the trade to Vancouver happened
We all know by now about the trade request from Zadorov that came after a loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on November 10 and then the trade that went down on November 30. Everyone all had their own speculation about why Zadorov wanted out, but Scott asked Zadorov straight up as to why he wanted out of Calgary, and this is what Zadorov had to say:
It’s a, I mean, I wanted to stay there [Calgary] and I did not get an offer. And then I feel like at that time, every body else did get an offer, all the other UFAs. So that, by that time it was just a time to move on because we knew there were other teams who were super interested.
We have known all along, even from last summer, that Zadorov wanted to be a Flame for life if that opportunity presented itself. Like Tyler Toffoli, the Flames were prioritizing others over Zadorov and that didn’t sit right with him, and he has every right to feel that way. When it comes to the upcoming UFAs, Noah Hanifin and Elias Lindholm have not expressed much interest in staying with the Flames, but management has been hard-pressed to sign them both.
Meanwhile, Zadorov has publicly said that he wanted to be a Flame and no contract was ever discussed. Whether you think it was a good or bad idea to sign Zadorov to an extension, it is a little heart-wrenching when you see the one guy who wanted to be here wasn’t even offered a chance to stay, and for me at least, Zadorov had every right to want to move on to a team that would want to keep him.
Zadorov loved his time as a Flame
Outside of the trade talk, Zadorov did speak about his love for the city of Calgary, the fans, and his teammates. He mentioned how he loved playing for former head coach Darryl Sutter, and how if he had him when he was just a rookie, he would be a much better player than he is now, but he also gave some love to the current head coach Ryan Huska, and how he loved playing for him as well.
There were many ups and downs in Zadorov’s tenure in Calgary, but one thing was made very clear, he gave it his all for this team, on the ice, in the media, and with the fans. Those are things that Flames fans will look on fondly when they think about Zadorov’s time in Calgary.
Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire
