Colorado Avalanche Halloween: 5 Scary Players
#2: Nikita Zadorov, a.k.a. Wreck It Ralph
Defenseman Nikita Zadorov is one big young man — 6-foot-5, 221 pounds — and he likes to hit. Don’t get me wrong, the kid can skate. The kid can shoot. The kid is learning positioning, and he’s about as affable as can be.
But Big Z came off a physical year with the Buffalo Sabres in which he recorded 137 hits and said during his locker clean-out interview that he was going to work more on his physical game.
Here’s Zadorov tackling Brandon Saad of the Columbus Blue Jackets — remember, as a Russian, Big Z’s probably never even played football:
Just nine games into the season Zadorov has already recorded 33 hits. That puts him on pace to lay 300 big hits this season. Ok, Big Z might not really get to 300 hits this season, but watch his annihilation of Anaheim Ducks forward Corey Perry and tell be the kid doesn’t like to hit:
I’m pretty sure Perry got arrested for speeding the next county over.
That brings us to our scariest Avalanche player…
Next: Michael Meyers