Colorado Avalanche defenseman Nikita Zadorov… is a menace. He’s the kind of player you would hate if he were an opponent, but you’re really glad he’s on your team.
Well, he’s a big boy — 6-foot-6, 235-ish pounds. (He once laughed that his weight is still listed thus.) Not only that, he’s sometimes just a big kid.
And that big boy likes to hit. Not surprisingly, he led the Avalanche in hits last season with 228. In fact, it was his third season straight being tops on the club. And he was top-10 in the whole NHL for hitting.