Practice Report: Zadorov Gives Playoff Outlooks, Impressions of Hagens

BOSTON –– When Nikita Zadorov signed with the Boston Bruins, he had playoffs on his mind.

After missing the cut last year, the defenseman will skate in his first postseason in the Black & Gold come Sunday’s Game-1 meeting with the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center. Zadorov, who was a first-round pick for the Sabres in 2013, returns looking for four wins against his former club.

“That was the goal coming in here: play those meaningful games. We’re not done yet. Obviously, it’s an exciting time right now, for sure,” Zadorov said. “Now playing in the first playoff series against them in Buffalo – I only have good things to say about the city and the people who gave me a chance to play in this league. It is going to be a pretty cool experience.”​

Zadorov’s punishing style is something he wants to lean into during the first-round series, with discipline, of course, he said. The 6-foot-7, 255-pound blueliner is third on the Bruins with 196 total hits this season. Zadorov and his teammates are embracing the challenge of starting on the road.

“I think that place is going to be nuts,” he said. “I think if you don’t enjoy it, you’re in the wrong sport or wrong place. That is playoff hockey, that’s pressure, that’s atmosphere, that’s intensity, physicality, blood, sweat, you name it. Everything is enjoyable.”

Head coach Marco Sturm will rely on his grinding players to help set the tone for the B’s.

“All of our big guys, starting with [Zadorov] on the backend, and then having Jeannot, Kasty and just guys being very physical and nasty. Without taking any penalties, that is going to be huge,” Sturm said. “I think that could be a game-changer, that could be a series-changer, that could be a lot of things. We just have to be smart about it. Because I know a lot of teams, they’re afraid of us.”​

Zadorov, who is going into the playoffs for the sixth time in his NHL career, will be a leader in the locker room, too, for those entering their first postseasons. One of those players is James Hagens. The 19-year-old forward signed his entry-level contract on April 8 and skated in the final two games of the regular season. The B’s have tried to keep things light for the new kid.

“This is a stressful time for everybody, and then to meet a bunch of new faces and try to get established right away is tough. But we have an awesome group of guys that try to get him to fit in right away,” Morgan Geekie said. “We put him in Zadorov’s spot for the team meeting, and that kind of broke him in pretty quickly. It’s all in good fun, and he’s a great human being, so that’s all you can ask for.”  

Zadorov has liked what he has seen so far from Hagens, who has been on the third line with Marat Khusnutdinov and Fraser Minten.

“He’s great. I’m impressed,” Zadorov said. “This year we’ve got three unbelievable kids, and they’re all playing on the same line right now. It is fun to watch.”

The Hagens, Khusnutdinov, Minten combination has remained together throughout practices this week. Sturm said he has not decided on the official lineup, but that there is a “pretty good chance” Hagens could play in Game 1.

“It’s just the last two games, he gave me a lot of excitement. I was not sure either where he was at, at this kind of level, but he did a pretty good job with the puck, managing the puck, playing without the puck, never got in trouble. As a line with Minten and Khus, I feel like there is chemistry,” Sturm said. “We will see how the next few days play out, but I am really excited about that.”

The average age of the third line is 21. All three guys are entering their first NHL playoff experience. This does not deter Sturm from keeping them together. Quite the opposite.

“If they’re going to play exactly the same way as they did – especially the last two games – I am fine,” Sturm said. “They didn’t give up anything, they were exciting to watch. They had speed, they had the brain, they have it all. So I don’t want to change them. That is going to be the biggest challenge for those kids – can they be consistent in a playoff game? I think they can.”