So far this season, things have gone well for the Boston Bruins, but there has been one player who has struggled: defenseman Nikita Zadorov. In fact, things got so bad on their West Coast trip last month that coach Marco Sturm made him a healthy scratch in a game against the Los Angeles Kings.
That was a surprising move, but his agent, Dan Milstein, was outspoken on social media after the benching and even commented on a post that had to do with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Since coming back into the lineup following the scratch, he has been good, but nothing like he was last season.
On Saturday against the Chicago Blackhawks, he was involved in an on-ice incident that everyone knew that the NHL Department of Player Safety was going to look into, which they did. Zadorov avoided a suspention, but not a fine.
NHL fines Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov for a punch on the Blackhawks Alex Vlasic
In the second period of the Bruins' 5-4 overtime win over the Blackhawks, Boston forward Casey Mittlestadt had a perfectly clean hit on Chicago's Alex Vlasic in the Blackhawks' defensive zone. As play was going up ice toward the Boston defensive zone, Vlasic apparently doesn't like being hit playing hockey cleanly, go figure, and went after Mittlestadt.
He knocked down Mittlestadt from behind before Zadorov stepped in and defended his teammate. Zadorov went after Vlasic, and when the officials broke up the altercation, Zadorov punched Vlasic, who was still down on the ice, and Zadorov was up. Both players received double minors for roughing and Zadorov was slapped with a 10-minute misconduct. On Sunday, the NHL fined him $5,000, the maximum allowed by the league.
Boston’s Nikita Zadorov has been fined $5,000, the maximum allowable under the CBA, for roughing Chicago’s Alex Vlasic.
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) November 1, 2026
We'll see what, if anything, comes of this moving forward. Some Chicago fans were calling for a suspension for Zadorov. Instead, he was just hit with a fine.
The Bruins rallied from down two goals late in the game to force overtime on goals by Mason Lohrei and Morgan Geekie to tie the game 4-4. In the extra session, Elias Lindholm won the game with a goal when he made a nice move in front of the net to tuck home the puck and give the Black and Gold two points that maybe they didn't deserve. Instead, they will take the two points and bank them as they begin a busy stretch of home games in November.
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