I'm Already Getting A Little Worried About How Good Filip Zadina Is Going To Be For The Red Wings
Filip Zadina was drafted 6th overall last Friday in the NHL Draft to the Detroit Red Wings. Heading into the draft, everybody knew that Rasmus Dahlin was going 1st overall. I’d say that everybody was also 95% sure that Andrei Svechnikov would be taken 2nd. After that, it came down to preference and team need depending on if your team was looking for a center or a wing or a defenseman. But there was a while where Filip Zadina was thought to be that 3rd guy who would have his name called. In the few days before the draft, Zadina started dropping down a few boards not because of anything he had done, but just because of teams’ positional needs. That’ll probably end up being pretty unfortunate for the few teams who ended up passing on Zadina because it seems like he’s taken a mental note.
Now I love Filip Zadina for that quote alone. It’s an all-timer from an 18-year-old and anybody who is doubting him should just take a quick look at his stats. He had 82 points in 57 games for the Halifax Mooseheads last year in the QMJHL with 44 goals and 38 assists. He also had 7 goals in 7 games in the 2018 World Juniors. So the kid knows how to find the back of the net. And considering Montreal and Ottawa are in the same division as Detroit, he’s going to have plenty of opportunities to ruin their lives over the course of his career. And considering how he’s looked at development camp so far?
Holy. Shit.
Granted this is just practice. A little more impressive than NBA guys shooting in an empty gym but it’s along the same lines. And I think it’s pretty easy for a lot of these guys to look good going through the stick handling obstacles. But the ridiculous amounts of skill are clearly there. And considering the Detroit Red Wings have a pretty decent track record with elite level European skill guys (Datsyuk, Fedorov, Zetterberg just to name a few), I’d say he’s going to be just fine in the winged wheel.
Not that Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Brady Tkachuk aren’t great players. But now the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators have a potential 40-goal scorer who has the back of their nets in his crosshairs for at least 4 games every year. Not ideal! This guy knows what I’m talking about.