Griddy and Gritty: Zadorov ready to do whatever it takes for Canucks

VANCOUVER — Returning from suspension against the Detroit Red Wings, the team whose excellent young player he clobbered three games earlier, Vancouver Canucks defenceman Nikita Zadorov was ready for anything on Thursday night. Except the Griddy.

Zadorov said his sly shimmy after a post-whistle skirmish late in Vancouver’s 4-1 win was unplanned. So it was more like a moment of creative, comical, improvisational genius as the Russian defenceman mocked Jake Walman, the Red Wing who celebrated his overtime game-winner Saturday against the Canucks by dancing the Griddy at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

Zadorov had been ejected with a match penalty in the second period of that 4-3 loss after mistiming an open-ice hit on Lucas Raymond and contacting the 21-year-old in the head. Luckily for both parties, Raymond was uninjured. The National Hockey League suspended Zadorov for two games.

The convenient duration of the suspension meant all the central figures were back on the same sheet of ice Thursday night.

“First of all, I was shocked nobody challenged me,” Zadorov told Sportsnet after Friday’s practice. “And I kind of feel sad because the league's changed. I mean, I feel like if a young guy in my team would get a hit in the head and an opponent's guy would get suspended or whatever, you still have to send a message. So I was, like, shocked nobody actually challenged me or anything. I was ready. 

“I was ready to answer the bell because it was a dirty hit. Unfortunate hit — I didn't do it on purpose — but it was dirty on one of their top young (players). So that kind of shocked me, first of all. Second of all. . . there's still a little disrespect when somebody is dancing on you in overtime. I mean, people are different. I'm a little bit more old school, so you definitely had to send the message back the other way yesterday.”

Without a dance partner, Zadorov danced anyway.

He interceded when Walman skated off the bench after a whistle to confront Canuck winger Nils Hoglander, who had caught the Red Wing with an accidental high stick as they jostled for position in front of the Detroit net.

Walman lay briefly on the ice before skating slowly to the Detroit bench as the Canucks nearly scored on a rush. At least he found the energy to smash his stick against the glass in frustration that there was no penalty call.

When Walman arrived at Hoglander, so did Zadorov. After breaking up the spat, Zadorov subtly aped Walman with a little Griddy.

“It’s emotion,” Zadorov, 28, explained. “And I think the game inside the game wins you championships at the end of the day. So when those teams who group-up around each other, who are like family and they treat each other like a family on the ice and off the ice, they have really good success. 

“I think that it’s important to send messages in those particular situations, not only to the (opposing) team or to the teams who you're going to play later, so they know, but also to your teammates because they're going to trust you more.”

In Zee, the Canucks trust.

Granted his trade request by the Calgary Flames, who sent the impending unrestricted free agent to Vancouver on Nov. 30, Zadorov fought Reese Johnson in December after the Chicago Blackhawk crunched Elias Pettersson with a legal check, and punished Liam O’Brien in a one-sided fight in January after the Arizona Coyote shift-disturber jumped Canuck Sam Lafferty amid a line change.

Zadorov’s willingness to fight and protect teammates has endeared him to them, and also to Canuck fans.

“I know my role,” Zadorov explained. “I know why they brought me here and what I am supposed to do. It was, I can say, a little bit different from the past two years with the Flames. In Calgary, we had Looch (Milan Lucic), we had Erik Gudbranson my first year, we had Brett Ritchie. We had those guys. Like when Looch is on your team. . . other teams don't do stupid stuff. I had to do less stuff that I don't like to do, but sometimes you have to do that, you know what I mean? 

“For sure, (there was) an adjustment. It's a different system. In Calgary, our whole system went through the D — the D carrying the puck, making plays, breakouts, skating, and it's faster to play. Here, there's more dinks, there's more short plays, there's more partner connections, and also the coaches are demanding defensive positions that are so much better than I had on my past teams. So I think that's the biggest change for me. It's an adjustment.”

Zadorov became unhappy with both his role and contract status in Calgary. But he is actually averaging about a minute less ice time in Vancouver, 17:20, down from 18:24.

“It's not about ice time; it's just the trust,” he said. “The coaches here trust me to play against top players from the other team. In Calgary, I didn't have that, which I was kind of unhappy with, for sure.

“I'm probably taking more (chirps from teammates) than anybody on this team, but I'm enjoying that. You pretty much earn your spot, showing the guys why you are here. At the end of the day, the league is so tight, everybody knows everybody. The bad people, the [expletive] teammates, they're not sticking around for too long.”

There has been conjecture that Vancouver is just a way station for Zadorov, that he is merely a bargaining chip that general manager Patrik Allvin may use before the March 8 trade deadline.

Coach Rick Tocchet said this speculation is false, that it is by design that the Canucks acquired the six-foot-six, 240-pound Zadorov to join other big Canuck defencemen like Tyler Myers (6-2, 229 pounds), Ian Cole (6-1, 225) and Carson Soucy (6-5, 208), who remains out “week to week” due to injury.

“I'm a big fan of him,” Tocchet said. “I think he adds a lot to our team, not only on the ice but off the ice. But the noise factor, it happens all the time, right? It's just part of this market, and I don't think it fazes him. I told him the other day. . . I said he was so close to getting his game to another level. And last game, I thought was another inch.

“I love his personality. It's exactly what the doctor ordered, like in the dressing room, for me. He's chipping away at his game, but I think his personality has a little of that old school. He's got some wit to him, but he's also not afraid to chirp somebody on the other team. He's kind of a loose cannon sometimes. It's OK to have those guys on the ice, right? Keep people's heads up. But he knows he's got to be careful.”

Zadorov scored his first goal for the Canucks in Thursday’s win. He enjoyed the evening, and probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it any less had Klim Kostin or Ben Chiarot or any other Red Wing come looking for him.

“Do you like your job?” he asked. “Do you like when you're good at your job? You like it even more. So it's the same thing for us; it's our job. But we also do what we love to do. And what else do you love? When you win. That's the biggest joy in the world, I think, the winning. 

“We all start playing when we're like four, five, six, seven, and it’s competition your whole life. The offseason, I'm like bored, so I play soccer because I need to compete against somebody. Or I play cards against my family. . . dominoes, whatever. You have to find those competitions all the time. That's why we're professional athletes and we're good at what we do. It's in our genes pretty much. When you have the chance to compete. . . (and) build up all those emotions and also win hockey games and be good at what you do, that's when you enjoy it the most.”