Nikita Zadorov has been in North America now since joining the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League back in 2012-13. But, it seems the hulking defenceman is still getting used to life away from his home country of Russia. In a candid interview with Russian outlet Sport24.ru, Zadorov, who joined the Chicago Blackhawks during the offseason after five years in Colorado, talked life in America.
"You saw what happened in Washington?," said Zadorov when asked whether Americans were still divided politically with the election over. "It seems to me that some did not calm down. If Twitter bans [Donald] Trump ... [Mark] Zuckerberg and the rest of the people seem to be for freedom of speech, but here they just take it and take it away. Some kind of clowning is happening, I just laugh at it. In Russia, everything is clear, but here it seems even worse."
That said, Zadorov believes the bickering is now starting to die down with Joe Biden set to take office in a few days.
"Those with whom I communicate no longer even bother with this topic," he explained. "There is no discussion either on the streets or in the locker room. Everyone has their own opinion, no one will impose their own on you."
"The team may have guys who are for Trump and who are for Biden," Zadorov continued. "And they don't hate each other. Politics is not directly present in our lives. It's more about the fact that each state has its own rules. A person can choose where he wants to live. Politics is politics, but people live normally."
Zadorov was also asked why it took so long to get the 2020-21 season started (The KHL resumed normal operations in August, as it usually does). Zadorov blamed Canada.
" It was all because of Canada," he said. "They generally have crazy rules, they are not even allowed to go outside."
That's not really true. There are curfews in some provinces while Ontario has instituted a stay-at-home order as it tries to get COVID cases under control.
"I was in favour of removing all Canadian teams and only American ones to start the season," said Zadorov while laughing.
Zadorov was also asked how much of his actual salary he gets to keep now with new escrow rules in place. He stated it dropped from one half to about a third, something he seemed fine with as long as hockey continues.
"Nothing wrong," he said.
" Let's put up with it for a couple of years, and when the escrow is 6%, everything will be fine. There will be a new TV contract, and the salary ceiling will increase from it. As a result, salaries will increase."
Source: Sport24.ru
