Former Canuck Nikita Zadorov shares why he chose his number

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Cooper Godin
July 10, 2024 (9:41)

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Former Vancouver Canucks defenceman Nikita Zadorov has shared why he chose the number he'll wear with the Boston Bruins starting next season.

Recently, former Vancouver Canucks defenceman Nikita Zadorov made the trip to Boston to check out his new city as well as to meet the media for his introductory press conference.

During that press conference, Zadorov was handed his first Bruins jersey with the number 91 on the back, as he wore during his time with the Vancouver Canucks last season. He becomes only the second player in Bruins history to wear number 91, the other being Marc Savard, 13 years ago.

"D Nikita Zadorov will wear jersey number 91 for the Boston Bruins. Number last worn by Marc Savard in 2010-11. #NHLBruins"

Zadorov was asked why he chose to wear number 91 with the Boston Bruins and he explained that it's 'upside down 16' referring to the number who's worn his entire career up until the trade to Vancouver. When he got to Vancouver, Zadorov couldn't wear 16 as it's retired for Trevor Linden. In Boston, 16 is also retired, to honour Rick Middleton.

The Moscow native said it was a good year in Vancouver wearing number 91, so he's decided to stick with it for his tenure with the Boston Bruins starting this Fall.

"Upside down 16," Zadorov told reporters for the reason for the number, per MassLive's Matt Vautour. "I wore 16 my whole life pretty much on the teams I can. That's the worst part of playing on an Original 6 team. Lots of numbers are retired. Lots of history obviously. When I got traded to Vancouver, we were thinking about it because it was retired over there as well. So 91 was good and it was a good year (in Vancouver) for us. So we decided to wear it here as well."

Zadorov, 29, signed a six-year contract with the Bruins back on July 1st worth $30 million ($5 million AAV) that'll keep him in Boston until the conclusion of the 2029-30 campaign.

Source: NESN
New Bruins Defenseman Nikita Zadorov Reveals Reason For Jersey Number