Ever since Filip Zadina fell to the Detroit Red Wings at No. 6 overall during this past draft, the hype surrounding the 18-year-old has continued to grow.

A projected top-three pick, Zadina quickly vowed to make the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators rue the day they passed on him by saying, “I’m going to fill their nets with pucks.”

If it wasn’t good enough the Red Wings had a pure goal-scorer on their team for the first time since maybe Marian Hossa in 2008-09, that goal-scorer now has a chip on his shoulder ready to prove to the rest of the world he should have been taken in the top three.

Unfortunately for Zadina, he didn’t prove much in his first AHL game for the Grand Rapids Griffins, who lost to the Texas Stars 3-1 on Friday in their season-opener.

Zadina, who played on the top line with Chris Terry and Wade Megan, finished with no shots on goal and a minus-2 rating. I’m not a big believer in plus-minus, and in Zadina’s case, it’s a bit misleading. He was on the ice for a goal against at 5 on 5 (which was scored on the rush with Zadina not in the play), but he also was on the ice for a goal against while the Griffins were on the power play.

Griffins goalie Harri Sateri came out of his net to clear a loose puck in the defensive zone, but he poked it right to Colton Hargrove, who fired a shot into the empty net to give the Stars a 1-0 lead early in the first period.

Zadina had nothing to do with the play, but because he’s on the ice for a shorthanded goal against, he gets a minus.

I liked Zadina on the top line with Terry and Megan both veterans with a plethora of AHL experience. Terry led the AHL in scoring last year with 71 points in 62 games, and Megan had 33 points in 63 games. Putting Zadina on a line with two veterans will give him ample opportunities to learn how to create offense in a professional league.

Scoring in the QMJHL is one thing, and Zadina is going to quickly learn he won’t be able to skate around defenders so easily in the AHL.

Speaking of the power play, Zadina saw ample ice time when the Griffins had the man advantage. Grand Rapids had six power plays but only scored on one, when Matthew Ford deflected a Matt Puempel point shot to tie the game at 1-1 in the first period. Zadina was on the ice for that Ford goal, but he didn’t factor into the play.

Interestingly enough, new coach Ben Simon opted to use Zadina near the blue line on the power play rather than on the half-wall. Granted, he wasn’t stationary, as he filled in empty spaces left by his teammates on the half-wall. However, he always retreated back to the blue line when his teammates came back to their positions.

For someone who has a great shot like Zadina, it seems more beneficial to use him on the half-wall rather than the point. The Athletic’s Ryan Stimson concluded point shots have an expected shooting percentage of 1.6 percent, or 0.016 expected goals. Granted, that figure is for 5-on-5 situations, but there are better ways to score, and that is especially true on the power play.

The table below shows the likelihood of a rebound occurring after a specific pass, and as you can see, passes to the point result in the lowest odds of a rebound happening. Again, it’s 5-on-5 data, but I can’t imagine the 5-on-4 data is much different in terms of ranking.

This uneventful game for Zadina, of course, means nothing. It’s his first professional game on North American ice. Some first-game jitters are to be expected.

It was obvious Zadina felt like he needed to take over the game and create as many highlight plays as he could. One time, in particular, was on the power play when he attempted to enter the offensive zone. All four Stars defenders trapped him at the blue line, resulting in a turnover and a clear.

Zadina had passing options on the left and right side, but he opted to take matters into his own hands and make the low-percentage play.

This decision-making improvement will come with experience, and I’m sure Simon noticed it and will coach him about using his teammates when appropriate rather than trying to be the hero.

Near the end of the game, with the Griffins trailing 2-1, I expected to see Zadina on the ice when Grand Rapids pulled its goalie for the extra attacker. However, he was nowhere to be seen. Whether it was due to his earlier forced plays, the fact it’s his first game or a combination of the two, I won’t know until I get a chance to speak with Simon about it. But it’s an interesting choice that I’ll keep an eye on.

Luckily for Zadina, he gets another opportunity to redeem himself, when the Griffins travel to San Antonio to face the Rampage at 8 p.m. tonight.

Details on watching the game on AHLTV for free are below.