Zadorov Shares Some Insight Into Nate MacKinnon

[-DLC-]

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Former Avalanche reveals intense details about being teammates with Nathan MacKinnon

Published

 15 hours ago 

on

 August 3, 2021

By

 Scott MacDonald 

 

If you’ve seen The Last Dance docu-series, you know the kind of athlete and teammate Michael Jordan was behind closed doors. He was the greatest to ever do it, and he demanded the best of his teammates.

Former Avalanche defenseman Nikita Zadorov came out recently and revealed some pretty intense MJ-like details about his old teammate, Avs superstar Nathan MacKinnon.

“Nate is like MJ. I don’t want to make a direct comparison, but his way of thinking is very similar to MJ,” Zadorov said in a recent interview with a Russian publication. “He can be a jerk to his teammates. You need to accept that and it would improve you as a hockey player as a result.

“If you can’t accept it, well, you’re off the team.”

The comparison to Michael Jordan, who likely leads the way among the pantheon of all-time greats, isn’t necessarily a new one for MacKinnon. In fact, when The Last Dance made its debut last year, there were some on Avs Twitter who were quick to draw that comparison. And I can tell you, as a member of the media, and as someone who’s been behind the closed doors of the Avs dressing room, I can confirm—without revealing too much detail—that Nathan MacKinnon is a very intense, very passionate guy. And you could probably make that assumption yourself, too.

This is further highlighted by Zadorov, who reveals a bit more of what it’s like playing alongside MacKinnon.

“If you miss a pass in practice, he would skate over and literally scream at you,” he told the Russian reporter. “If the puck ends up in his skates—not even his skates—if it misses his stick by a tiny bit, like 15 centimeters in front of the blade of his stick, he doesn’t move his stick to catch the puck. He stops everything, turns around and slaps the puck back at you. He is not going to try and catch any puck he doesn’t like during practice—just to show you that you made a shitty pass.”

And it’s not just on the ice where MacKinnon demands the best. He’s like that off the ice, too, says Zadorov, who revealed that MacKinnon pays a dietician and a personal chef $50,000 and $100,000 a year, respectively, to make sure he’s keeping his body right. He also pays a “live-in doctor/physiotherapist” $1,000 each day, while also renting him out his very own apartment.

Zadorov says MacKinnon doesn’t indulge in libations either, and only drinks water. Two years ago, MacKinnon apparently got rid of all soda and desserts from the dressing room, and kiboshed “white sauce” and replaced regular pasta with chickpea pasta, because it’s higher in protein.

“He says, ‘Guys, if you want to eat that crap, you have the offseason for that. When you come here there will be none of that because we’re winning the Cup,” Zadorov says in the interview.

Michael Jordan wanted to win and he wanted to win bad. Nathan MacKinnon clearly wants to win, and he wants to win bad. MJ was the greatest player in the world and capital-D demanded his teammates play on his level. It’s clear MacKinnon demands a similar workload from his teammates. In that respect, maybe it is fair to loosely compare NM with MJ.

MacKinnon doesn’t want to be the best. He wants his team to be the best. This is something Zadorov wanted to make clear in this interview.

“He made pros out of the entire Colorado team,” Zadorov said. “That’s one of the reasons that Colorado got such an improvement in performance over the last couple of years.” Adding later, “He is a guy that demands everyone leaves everything out there, to maximize their abilities.

“He is always the hardest working guy. He comes out 30 minutes before practice, constantly working on his hands,” adds Zadorov. “Young guys see that he’s the best player in the NHL, and he still works to improve. It motivates them to work even harder.”

Social media seems torn on these damning details that have been revealed by the former Avalanche defenseman. Some say MacKinnon’s behavior is too much, while others commend the Avs star for his commitment to not only win, but to improve those around him.

Nathan MacKinnon is consummate pro. There’s no doubt that. This interview with former teammate Zadorov revealed what many likely already suspected of MacKinnon: He wants to be the best, and he’s won’t stop until he—and his teammates—get there.

https://coloradohockeynow.com/2021/08/03/former-avalanche-reveals-intense-details-about-what-its-like-being-teammates-with-nathan-mackinnon/

This generating a bit of a buzz on SM right now.

 

I'm sure the talk will be very polarized.....not sure how I feel about it.

 

I love Nate - one of my favourite non Canucks.  And, in order to be the best you have to be extremely focused and dedicated.  But screaming in guy's faces doesn't scream team player...even if it's for all the right reasons.

 

He's a fierce competitor though, so who am I to judge? 

 

Much ado about nothing but it is the off season. 

[PhillipBlunt]

Maybe the comparisons to Jordan should be quelled until MacKinnon actually wins the Stanley Cup, seeing as how Jordan won 6 NBA championships.

[King Heffy]

No issue as long as it's balanced out by strong coaching if it gets out of hand.  

 

[-SN-]

He's in his prime and already an abusive hockey parent. 

[Patel Bure]

26 minutes ago, -DLC- said:

https://coloradohockeynow.com/2021/08/03/former-avalanche-reveals-intense-details-about-what-its-like-being-teammates-with-nathan-mackinnon/

This generating a bit of a buzz on SM right now.

 

I'm sure the talk will be very polarized.....not sure how I feel about it.

 

I love Nate - one of my favourite non Canucks.  And, in order to be the best you have to be extremely focused and dedicated.  But screaming in guy's faces doesn't scream team player...even if it's for all the right reasons.

 

He's a fierce competitor though, so who am I to judge? 

 

Much ado about nothing but it is the off season. 

Kudos to Nathan Mackinnon for doing all that but is that kind of authoritative leadership really necessary?  Were guys like Sakic, Yzerman, Scott Stevens, and Jonathan Toews like that as well?  Wayne Gretzky?  Mario Lemieux?

[King Heffy]

1 minute ago, Patel Bure said:

Kudos to Nathan Mackinnon for doing all that but is that kind of authoritative leadership really necessary?  Were guys like Sakic, Yzerman, Scott Stevens, and Jonathan Toews like that as well?  Wayne Gretzky?  Mario Lemieux?

Gretzky and Lemieux weren't exactly health nuts.

[AV.]

Imagine being yelled at for mistakes in practice and being told that you can't eat carbonara just to finish your season in the second round every year lmfao.

 

He's lucky he's talented and underpaid or else his micromanagement wouldn't be well received at all.  Hell, in any workplace, who would want to deal with this?

It also speaks volumes that hockey culture not only normalizes but celebrates this Patrick Bateman esque behaviour.  Weird sport.

[Twilight Sparkle]

straight edge people are weird af. not surprised lol

[Dazzle]

17 minutes ago, AV. said:

Imagine being yelled at for mistakes in practice and being told that you can't eat carbonara just to finish your season in the second round every year lmfao.

 

He's lucky he's talented and underpaid or else his micromanagement wouldn't be well received at all.  Hell, in any workplace, who would want to deal with this?

It also speaks volumes that hockey culture not only normalizes but celebrates this Patrick Bateman esque behaviour.  Weird sport.

One of the few moments that I agree with you. I don't think this is limited to 'hockey culture' though. Much of real life has this type of guy who just yells, which can make people play worse.

 

Zadorov isn't bashing Mac. Let's make that really clear.

Edited August 4, 2021 by Dazzle

[Maginator]

Will this bring him closer or further to a cup?

 

Guess we'll find out in 10 years.

[-DLC-]

For me, it's a two sided coin.  Gotta love a guy who's so intense that it just boils over.  On the other hand, yelling at people isn't always the most motivating either.  

 

There's a balance between being focused/competitive and keeping things unified and "fun".  Something in the middle is likely the best level to strive for.

 

Hard for these guys to turn it "off/on" when they're on the ice I'm sure.  But yeah, your teammates are your brothers on the ice and the pecking order might get in the way of that a bit.  Respect is earned and he's done a lot toward that...but there's definitely a way to communicate that isn't talking at someone from above.

 

[Fanuck]

There's  various leadership styles, we all know this.  I've never been a fan of leadership through fear and negativity rather I  favor positive support and encouragement.   I get it, this is the pros and these are grown men (mostly) so suck it up buttercup or move on, but nobody is perfect including MacKinnon and therein lies the fatal flaw with this style of leadership/personality,  eventually a guy like Mac will himself make crucial mistakes and even completely fail at something and with this type of leadership/personality where do you go from there when that happens?  Who do you yell at?  Who do you blame?  I personally don't believe that's entirely healthy outlook on work or life. 

 

I remember when he had that fit on the bench and yelled at his coach,  if he could do that on national TV imagine what he does behind closed doors to teammates/staff?  

[DrJockitch]

Playoff hockey doesn’t let you make perfect passes so part of practice situations is getting that pass that is off a bit recovering and making a play of it. 
The passer knows their pass is off. Maybe if Mac worried more about perfecting imperfect plays instead of stopping practice to show he is the big dog he could win in the playoffs. 

[Maddogy]

The 2011 Canucks team had a group of veteran players that argued with each other and demanded the best from each other. That was done by committee and not by a single person. MacKinnon's approach would work if it is not just him being the bad cop. 

[Dazzle]

3 minutes ago, DrJockitch said:

Playoff hockey doesn’t let you make perfect passes so part of practice situations is getting that pass that is off a bit recovering and making a play of it. 
The passer knows their pass is off. Maybe if Mac worried more about perfecting imperfect plays instead of stopping practice to show he is the big dog he could win in the playoffs. 

Gotta agree with this. A practice is just that - a practice. In a real game, you make a $&!#ty pass, ok, it makes sense that you might get yelled at depending on what kind of a pass.

 

Yes, mac wants the best, but no one is perfect. I'm pretty sure mac coughed up the puck in the defensive zone plenty of times, as do all players, so...?

[erkayloomeh]

11 minutes ago, -DLC- said:

For me, it's a two sided coin.  Gotta love a guy who's so intense that it just boils over.  On the other hand, yelling at people isn't always the most motivating either.  

 

There's a balance between being focused/competitive and keeping things unified and "fun".  Something in the middle is likely the best level to strive for.

 

Hard for these guys to turn it "off/on" when they're on the ice I'm sure.  But yeah, your teammates are your brothers on the ice and the pecking order might get in the way of that a bit.  Respect is earned and he's done a lot toward that...but there's definitely a way to communicate that isn't talking at someone from above.

 

Yeah.  I wonder if yelling at Hansen (tortorella) made Hansen a better player?

[khay]

1 hour ago, PhillipBlunt said:

Maybe the comparisons to Jordan should be quelled until MacKinnon actually wins the Stanley Cup, seeing as how Jordan won 6 NBA championships.

In a manner of 2 three-peats.  

 

NM is a hard working guy that demands others to work as hard. He isn't even the best player in the league like MJ was.

 

The only current player that can draw parallel to Jordan is McDavid. But McDavid doesn't have Jordan's personality and may never win a cup at this rate. Jordan was the best offensive and defensive player of his era. McDavid isn't even a top 100 player defensively.

 

 

[PhillipBlunt]

42 minutes ago, AV. said:

Imagine being yelled at for mistakes in practice and being told that you can't eat carbonara just to finish your season in the second round every year lmfao.

 

He's lucky he's talented and underpaid or else his micromanagement wouldn't be well received at all.  Hell, in any workplace, who would want to deal with this?

It also speaks volumes that hockey culture not only normalizes but celebrates this Patrick Bateman esque behaviour.  Weird sport.

Exactly. Yelling at your fellow players and firing pucks at them seems like a real control freak move. Sometimes a player misses a pass due to an uneven ice surface. 

 

I could only imagine how pleasant he must have been after the Avalanche lost these last playoffs. Now that Colorado has lost some size on the back end in Zadorov and Graves, they're going to be in tough somewhat if the competition leans on them physically. How's Nathan going to deal with that? 

[Fanuck]

[SergioMomesso]

So would NM be ok if Landeskog called him out for disappearing after game 1 of the Vegas series?