This is the 2025-26 edition — an archived read. Read the 2026-27 report →
Nikita Zadorov
Boston Bruins Defense
6-7 and 255 pounds, 145 penalty minutes, and a plus-25 on a team that was outscored by 49.
| Season | Team | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | PP | SH | GW | S | S% | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013-14 | BUF | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 25.0 | 17:10 |
| 2014-15 | BUF | 60 | 3 | 12 | 15 | -10 | 51 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 52 | 5.8 | 17:42 |
| 2015-16 | COL | 22 | 0 | 2 | 2 | -5 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 0.0 | 16:56 |
| 2016-17 | COL | 56 | 0 | 10 | 10 | -20 | 73 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 61 | 0.0 | 19:02 |
| 2017-18 | COL | 77 | 7 | 13 | 20 | +4 | 103 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 94 | 7.4 | 19:28 |
| 2018-19 | COL | 70 | 7 | 7 | 14 | +19 | 75 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 7.0 | 17:12 |
| 2019-20 | COL | 64 | 4 | 9 | 13 | +6 | 65 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 65 | 6.2 | 17:46 |
| 2020-21 | CHI | 55 | 1 | 7 | 8 | +1 | 36 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 52 | 1.9 | 19:12 |
| 2021-22 | CGY | 74 | 4 | 18 | 22 | +11 | 77 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 106 | 3.8 | 16:55 |
| 2022-23 | CGY | 82 | 14 | 7 | 21 | +10 | 80 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 130 | 10.8 | 18:41 |
| 2023-24 | CGY/VAN | 75 | 6 | 14 | 20 | 0 | 125 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 90 | 6.7 | 17:26 |
| 2024-25 | BOS | 81 | 4 | 18 | 22 | +25 | 145 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 105 | 3.8 | 20:37 |
| 2025-26 so far | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Career | — | 723 | 51 | 117 | 168 | +37 | 846 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 877 | 5.8 | 18:22 |
This Season So Far
The 2025-26 season has not started. The empty row above is his, and both it and this paragraph fill in on their own from the morning after he first plays: what he has done, what it is worth against his own last season, and the run he is on when the two disagree.
Last Season
4 goals and 18 assists in 81 games for 22 points, plus-25 on a club with a minus-49 goal differential — a 74-goal swing against the team’s own rate, and the strangest number in this edition.
49.2 per cent at five-on-five, the 43rd percentile and the second-best on the blue line, over 1,371 minutes. On-ice goals of 54-46 against an expected 53-54, so the results ran ahead of the chances by 9.
The Finesse Game
Limited and not the point. 105 shots with 75 per cent of them from beyond 40 feet, 4 goals, and a first pass that is safe rather than quick.
He has improved as a puck-mover over his career to the extent that he no longer stalls a breakout, which is genuinely all that is asked. 18 assists is a fair reflection.
The Physical Game
6-7 and 255, one of the largest men in the league, and he plays every inch of it. He clears the crease, he hits hard and constantly, and forwards visibly change their route through the slot when he is on the ice.
145 penalty minutes is the highest total on the club by 39. Some of that is the price of the only genuinely fearsome player on the roster; a lot of it is a penalty kill that then has to work.
The Intangibles
Five organisations, a reputation as a difficult teammate that he has spent the last three years dismantling, and a run to a conference final in Vancouver that made him a name.
At 30 on a long contract, this is what the club has: a genuinely useful defensive defenceman who is the reason opponents do not enjoy playing here, and the third-most penalised player in the league. Both are true and only one of them helps.
The numbers underneath
On the ice
Five-on-five, 2024-25 · 1,371 minutes
- Expected goals
- 49.2%
- 43rd pct
- Shot attempts
- 48.1%
- 33rd pct
share of the chances while he was out there
share of the attempts while he was out there
Goals while he was on the ice: 54 for, 46 against. Expected: 52.5 and 54.2.
The eye and the numbers
HindsightThe two rank him within 7 points of one another. It was written for a back edition, with the seasons that followed already known. Neither the agreement nor the gap says anything about the eye, and this report is excluded from the club-level comparison for the same reason.
Both bars are percentiles among the 357 skaters in this edition with a report and enough ice time. The report bar ranks the mean of the grades above — 70 on their own scale — against every other report's mean. The numbers bar ranks his share of expected goals. A gap is a disagreement about where he belongs, not two scales talking past each other.
Usual linemates
2024-25 · 1371 minutes at five-on-five
- Andrew Peeke27%
- Brandon Carlonow TOR23%
Share of his five-on-five ice time spent alongside each player, measured from shift charts. Special teams are excluded: a power-play unit is not a line.
Why the numbers land there
Five-on-five, 2024-25
- The club
- BOS took 48.4% of the expected goals as a club. His own share is 49.2% — 0.8 above the club he did it on.
- The role
- Second pair, 1,371 minutes at five-on-five — 95th percentile in ice time.
With and without
| Teammate | Together | Him apart | Mate apart |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elias Lindholm | 46.8% | 50.3% | 50.0% |
| David Pastrnak | 50.8% | 48.5% | 50.1% |
| Andrew Peeke | 49.3% | 49.2% | 48.3% |
46.8% together, 50.3% for him apart and 50.0% for Lindholm apart. Both were better apart than together — the pairing was doing neither of them any favours.
Expected-goal share while both were on the ice, and for each man in the minutes he played without the other. Apart is the pair subtracted from his own totals. It does not settle who was carrying whom — apart from each other, both were still playing with somebody — but it does say whether the share travelled when the pairing broke up.
Where he shoots from
goal on goal missed
161 unblocked shots in 2024-25, 4 of them goals. His median goal came from 51 feet. 4% of his shots came from inside twenty feet, 75% from beyond forty.