Nikita Zadorov still has a long way to go to get to where he and the Avalanche believe he's capable, but coach Jared Bednar is seeing steady improvement.

At 6-feet-5 and 230 pounds, Zadorov seems to have all the physical tools necessary to develop into a solid NHL defenseman, but he's still just 21, so the Avalanche will need to be patient.

Zadorov was one of the key players acquired from Buffalo in the Ryan O'Reilly trade two years ago, and Bednar has been giving him more responsibility, especially with Erik Johnson still out with a broken fibula.

"I think he's doing two things: he's dealing with the amount of ice time he's getting for the first time in his career at this level, and he's putting a lot of work in off the ice in the gym before and after practice to make himself a better conditioned athlete," Bednar said Monday. "He deserves a lot of credit for that.

"I think that's helped him mentally, knowing that he deserves to be a good player and that he deserves more ice time. In some games he can be a little inconsistent, but I like what he's doing. I think his game is trending like this over the course of the season."

Zadorov hardly has eye-popping stats: no goals, six assists, 47 penalty minutes and a minus-13 plus-minus rating in 40 games. He's played in 24 consecutive games since sitting out Nov. 19 at Minnesota as a healthy scratch.

Inconsistent? Yes, but "Z," as he's known by his coaches and teammates, has shown enough at times for the Avalanche to believe he'll eventually live up to his lofty draft status -- the Sabres' first-round pick (No. 16) in 2013.

Zadorov is averaging 18:16 in ice time this season, and has logged between 19 and 24:54 in 11 of the past 13 games. He played 21:49 Saturday against Nashville and had one shot, seven hits, and a plus-1 rating. His 3:14 shorthanded was second to Francois Beachemin as a penalty killer. His 102 hits this season are one behind team leader Andreas Martinsen.

Aside from all the losses, Zadorov is most frustrated by his lack of offense, especially after getting 10 goals and 19 assists in 52 games with San Antonio last season.

"I can't find offense all year," he said. "I have zero goals, six points ... it's frustrating for me, pretty frustrating. I know I can do better, I should do better. I just can't find it yet, but I'm not putting my head down. I'm keeping it up, working hard, practicing shooting, trying to find something different to score goals. It doesn't go my way."

Bednar's take?

"That's an easy one for me, he's got to hit the net," he said. "He's had a lot of chances. If you look at the amount of minutes that he plays and in some of the situations he plays, he doesn't have many shots. Part of that is because on his best scoring chances he's missing the net.

"Got to hit the net when you get a chance to score, when you get a chance to produce offensively. He has to keep working on his shot and making sure he's not trying to make the perfect shot, he's just got to get the puck on the net."

Zadorov has 33 shots on goal for the season, with 16 games without one.

"If the team would be winning and I didn't get points, I wouldn't care," he said. "Our team is losing and I'm not helping my team win. If I put in some numbers, score a goal, it's going to help my team win. That's what frustrating."



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