Predictably, Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic said Nikita Zadorov, 20, needs to play top-four minutes, which is why the 6-foot-5 defenseman was reassigned to the San Antonio Rampage on Saturday. Sakic said Zadorov’s situation is no different than winger Mikko Rantanen, 19, who played the first six games with Colorado before being sent to the American Hockey League affiliate.
“A little bit like Rantanen, I think he lost a little bit of confidence,” Sakic said of Zadorov, “and if you’re not playing PK, PP — the quality minutes — as a young guy, (they need to go down). We’re going to need him (in the future). For a young man in that position, he needs to play a ton and work on his confidence. He’ll go down and play as much as he can and keep learning that way. The only way you can get better is by playing a lot at a young man’s age.”
For now, Sakic does not intend to recall a San Antonio defenseman, and the Avs will take seven D into their seven-game road trip that begins Tuesday at Philadelphia.
Winger Alex Tanguay, meanwhile, is out for an “extended period” from a knee injury he suffered in Friday’s 2-1 loss to the visiting New York Rangers, Sakic said, who added the team will recall a Rampage forward. Center John Mitchell, who has missed the past three games with an oblique injury, is expected to return at Philadelphia, but without him Colorado has just 11 forwards. I believe Andrew Agozzino — who is on a scoring tear with nine points (five goals) in five games — is back from a shoulder injury.
Lastly, in Sunday’s NHL column I wrote a segment on Rampage goalie Calvin Pickard, 23, whom I believe would help the Avs win and challenge Semyon Varlamov. I’ll link the column when it posts and you can compare it to what Sakic told me below.
“He’s going to be here next year for sure,” Sakic said of Pickard. “We have no problems with our goaltending this year. The idea was for him to back up what he was doing last year (in the AHL) and have an MVP-type season which he is right now. For us there is no rush and he’s at that age where he needs to play a ton. It’s no different than a guy like Rantanen or Zadorov. He’s having a great year, which is tremendous for him and tremendous for us. He’ll be here next year, and as long as our two goalies are healthy, he’ll stay down there and keep playing like that.”
