The Calgary Flames are off to a disaster of a start. They were really hoping to bounce back from a disappointing season in 2022-23 by being a good team here in 2023-24. So far, not so good.
They played a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday night and lost in a shootout. It was a great game but that ended up not being the story of the night when it comes to the Calgary Flames.
Kevin Weekes took to Twitter to reveal that he heard defenseman Nikita Zadorov wanted out of Calgary. He has requested a trade away. This is obviously some big news across the NHL.
The Calgary Flames might be forced to move Nikita Zadorov at some point.
**Breaking News 🚨 📰**
— Kevin Weekes (@KevinWeekes) November 11, 2023
Fresh off a goal and big hit tonight against the @MapleLeafs , I’m told that D Zadorov through his agent @GoldStarHockey Dan Milstein has requested a trade from the @NHLFlames . #HockeyTwitter pic.twitter.com/TRZqwcgyd5
Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic confirmed the rumor put out by Weekes saying that the hope is the resolution to this issue comes soon. That makes you think that Zadorov could be traded in short order.
Source confirms this is the case, so let’s see where this goes. Believe his camp led by agent Dan Milstein hoping for a quick resolution https://t.co/FNwb6EaJyT
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) November 11, 2023
Nikita Zadorov, in the game against the Leafs, before all of this came out, made a big impact on the game even though his team lost. That included a big goal in the game. His season to date has been excellent despite the team around him not being very good.
Things didn’t get better after this rumor came out as the Flames lost on Saturday by a final score of 4-1. This loss came on the road as well as they took on the Ottawa Senators. Now, the Flames will enter the new week with a record of 4-8-2.
Zadorov did play in the game against the Senators but he didn’t make as much of an impact. This can’t be amazing to deal with so he has to hope it all gets resolved soon. The hockey world will wait in anticipation as lots of teams will want a defenseman like this.
You’d think that the team that gets him is a contender (or at least is a contender in their own minds). That will be a big boost as he is a big defender who has been bringing some offense so far this year. Everyone needs guys like Zadorov.
There have been a few minor trades in the league so far this year but the movement of Zadorov would be the first big one. We’ll see what happens.