Bruins’ Zadorov Scratch Wasn’t Just About Disciplining the Defenseman

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The Boston Bruins say they scratched defenseman Nikita Zadorov for disciplinary reasons, but Pete Blackburn believes there’s more to the story. Given that the Bruins knew exactly what they were getting when they signed the rugged and emotional blueliner, why would things suddenly change? There are no surprises with this player.

Zadorov built his reputation as a physical, disruptive presence, and Blackburn says that’s exactly why Boston went out and got him. The Bruins like his ability to disrupt and to play with an edge, and Blackburn says they have accepted the downside that comes with it. “Part of accepting that is accepting how many penalties he’s going to take,” he said, noting that Zadorov has led the league in penalties over the past couple of years.

Part of the reason this hasn’t been much of an issue until now is that Zadorov has been a net positive for the team, Blackburn argued. This season has been different. “His play hasn’t been nearly good enough,” the opinionated host of What Chaos said, adding that Zadorov has also been taking “stupid, undisciplined penalties.”

That’s why Blackburn doesn’t think discipline alone explains the scratch. If it did, he argued, Zadorov would have been a healthy scratch for much of the past two years, given how often he sits in the box. Zadorov didn’t quite get it either. “Listen, we are the Boston Bruins and we play that brand of hockey. And I believe it fits me pretty well…I’ve been playing my whole life that way.” He added, “I’m an emotional person on and off the ice, and I’m emotionally invested on and off the ice.”

So Why are the Bruins Suddenly Annoyed with Zadorov?

Blackburn sees two factors at work. One is that Zadorov simply hasn’t played well enough. The other is that he had a clearly negative impact in the previous game, when he took a double minor that put Boston behind.

So is Zadorov a player who needs a message sent? If so, maybe he received it. He’s got two penalty minutes in the last three games, and he’s a plus-minus +6 in that same time frame. The Bruins knew they were getting a disruptor. The issue is that he has to play well enough for the team to overlook the part of his game that takes things a bit too far.

He was disappointed in being scratched, but the early indications are that it worked.

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