Nikita Zadorov (Colorado Avalanche)
Nikita Zadorov has been about the league for around five seasons now and is two years older than Brandon Carlo, but if you look at them side-by-side last season, you’d have to say they’re both playing a similar style looking solely at the base statistics.
Zadorov was a fourteen-point man with a plus-19 plus/minus score for the Colorado Avalanche. That points total sits relatively consistently with his production across all of his previous NHL seasons, whether with the Avalanche or his previous side, the Buffalo Sabres.
Carlo, for comparison, had his best points total in his very first season in the league managing 16 points before that tailed off to just six points and then upped slightly back to 10 last year. He isn’t put in a position to be a point-producer but is relied upon in a far more important defensive role; Zadorov is used similarly in Colorado.
The contract Nikita Zadorov signed represents one that as a comparable may hold some appeal to Carlo if he decides to just go for a one-year term. Next season, the Avalanche will shell out $3.2 million against the cap for a single year of service before negotiating all over again.
Whilst that may not appeal greatly to the management of the Boston Bruins, it may appeal to the player who could decide to back himself to lift his points game and demand far higher come the end of next year.
Next year’s free agency right now doesn’t look any easier than this one either; David Backes’ deal will still have a year to run and Carlo’s regular defensive partner this season, Torey Krug will be looking to cash in as an unrestricted free agent.
You sure as heck use Zadorov as a comparison if you’re Brandon Carlo though; if he chooses to go this route, $3.2 million for one contracted year seems like a reasonable deal for him, if even a tiny bit high for the team.