By: Ryan Bosworth | Follow me on Twitter / X @RyanJBosworth
The Boston Bruins were back on the ice today participating in captains practices leading up to the start of training camp. The media spoke to several players following the conclusion of today’s skate. Among those available were David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, and Nikita Zadorov.
All three players spoke about the previous season, as well as the upcoming 2025-26 campaign. One important feat that came from today’s media availability is the increasingly important role Nikita Zadorov is going to have on this Bruins roster.
“Being underdogs this year, being a team that nobody is putting anywhere even close to where we should be — it’s kind of putting an extra chip on our shoulders,” Zadorov commented following a question related to expectations for the upcoming season.
Following a rocky start to his first Bruins season, Zadorov really turned things around about halfway through the 2024-25 season. There were a league-leading 145 penalty minutes amassed during the season, and a majority of them were in that rough first half.
Zadorov is a surprisingly agile puck mover despite being 6-foot-5-inches and 248 pounds, and managed to stay out of the box a bit better in the second half of the year. His plus/minus of +25 led the entire Bruins team, who were the seventh worst team when it came to goals allowed, averaging 3.3 goals allowed per game.
He’s found a steady home on the third pairing, and with the cap continuing to rise in the coming years, his $5 million average annual value is going to continue to age really well over the next five years. Zadorov also found himself settling into a pretty prominent leadership role with the Bruins, especially after the trade deadline fire sale.
Marat Khusnutdinov, acquired at the 2025 trade deadline from the Minnesota Wild, commented on Zadorov being what made the transition into Boston so easy. “Anything I needed, he helped.” That’s the type of leadership Boston has been missing.
He also sat down one-on-one with Sophia Jurksztowicz in an interview for NESN, and she asked him about his leadership.
When asked about if he enjoyed being a leader in the room, Zadorov responded with, “I mean, I talk a lot, I got some experience in this league, I’ve been to different teams, I’ve seen a lot of leadership, I’ve seen a lot of different captains… I think I just take something from them.”
Zadorov would go on to name leaders that have impacted him on the different teams he’s played for – players such as Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, Patrick Kane, Matthew Tkachuk, Johnny Gaudreau, and Quinn Hughes.
Zadorov said, “when you play with those guys, you kind of learn something. They’re all leaders on their own, and you just try to understand how they treat people, how they do for themselves, what they do off the ice, and you try and take a little bit from all of them.”
Zadorov has an important few weeks ahead of him leading to the start of the 2025-26 regular season, and he seems to be ready for the challenge. He wants to be, and is, a leader for this Bruins team. Being a voice in the room, helping out the younger players on, and off, the ice, and understanding the importance of the Spoked B.
His role this season, and in the coming seasons, are going to be more important than some might think.
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