Colorado Avalanche Re-Sign Nikita Zadorov

Colorado Avalanche defenseman Nikita Zadorov’s agent Dan Milstein (Gold Star) announced on Twitter at 12:17 pm on Friday, July 5th that Z signed a one year contract extension with the Avs. At 12:21 pm, Z posted a photo on Twitter and Instagram of himself checking someone into the boards with the green check mark emoji, and tagged the location at Pepsi Center.

The Avs offical accounts acknowledged the deal at 1:02 pm, just posting a photo of Z with the word “Signed” across it.

The one year deal is worth $3.2m, after the Avs tendered Zadorov an offer sheet at $2.2m on June 25. The Moscow, Russia native was a Restricted Free Agent this summer, following the end of his previous two year, $4.3m contract with the club.

Zadorov is 24-years old, and will be playing his fifth season in Denver after playing his first two NHL seasons with the Buffalo Sabres. His career high in games played was 77 in 2017-2018, and this season he had seven goals for the second consecutive year. He did not score in the 2019 playoffs, but logged up to 20 minutes per game in both series.

While his scoring didn’t skyrocket, he hit a handful of career milestones that helped him make his case for the one-year bridge deal. He hit a career high plus/minus with a +19, posted a positive even-strength Corsi For relative number, and managed a career high 21 recorded takeaways.

The lefty played with several blue line partners during the most recent season, predominantly pairing with the recently departed Patrick Nemeth and Tyson Barrie. He may get more time with Cale Makar as line pairings shift over the summer.

Zadorov has not announced any sort of off-season surgery or lingering injuries so all signs point to him being available to start the season.