- Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov was fined $5,000, the maximum under the CBA
- The NHL cited him for roughing Blackhawks defenseman Alex Vlasic on Saturday
- Read below for his fine history and the scratch that came two weeks ago
Nikita Zadorov is out $5,000 after Saturday’s game against the Blackhawks.
The NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced Sunday that the Bruins defenseman was fined the maximum allowed under the collective bargaining agreement for roughing Chicago’s Alex Vlasic. The incident happened at 18:34 of the second period, and the money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.
Zadorov drew two minor penalties for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct on the play. It started when Casey Mittelstadt and Vlasic tangled behind the play and a scrum broke out. Check out our clip of the pile-up from the game:
Boston still came away with the win, a 5-4 overtime decision on an Elias Lindholm goal that snapped a two-game losing streak. Chicago did not get a power play out of the sequence, and the league announced no other discipline.
This is not new territory for Zadorov. It’s his fourth maximum fine since May 2024, following a cross-check on Connor McDavid in the 2024 playoffs, a stick poke at Evgeni Malkin from the bench that November, and a cross-check on Rasmus Dahlin in last April’s first round.
It also lands two weeks after Bruins coach Marco Sturm made him a healthy scratch, which we covered in our Zadorov scratch story. Sturm was asked about the decision and made clear what he wanted to see from his defenseman. Here’s the coach’s explanation:
Zadorov’s answer after that scratch was blunt. He said, “Listen, we are Boston Bruins and we play that brand of hockey.”
He leads the NHL in penalty minutes again this season with 47 through 14 games. He topped the league with 152 last year and 145 the year before, and he signed a six-year, $30 million deal with Boston in 2024 that runs through 2029-30.
Boston sits at 10-4-1 heading into Sunday.
