Zadina needs time in Grand Rapids

Among all the hype and the YouTube highlights, Filip Zadina is still an extremely young player on this Red Wings team. It looks like he will need some extra time to develop into that world-beater from his highlights.

Earlier yesterday, Head Coach Jeff Blashill made these comments when it came to Zadina’s performance in the preseason.

Most of it is very positive – already being a two-way player for the most part and the coaching staff wanting him to be that offensive star. Most coaches want to “coach out” that offensive in exchange for some defense, so it’s a nice change of piece to see – especially when it comes to how dull the Red Wings have been upfront recently.

To fully reach that offensive potential, Zadina will need confidence. The confidence to make the plays that he has the skill for and to make a big splash in the NHL as a talented young player.

To get that confidence, Zadina can be sent down to the Griffins to further develop his game and play against lesser competition.

Last year, there were only three U19 forwards in the AHL. New York Rangers prospects Lias Andersson and Flip Chytil, and St. Louis Blues prospect Klim Kostin. Zadina can be one of the few this year. Chytil and Andersson were the most impressive, having 0.67 and 0.56 Pts/GP respectively – if Zadina can perform around that mark with the Griffins, it will surely warrant a midseason call-up for the teenager.

With Chytil and Andersson, they were able to come into a pretty desolate Hartford Wolfpack team and be their stars – getting all the icetime they wanted to rack up the points. Will it be the same for Zadina and the Griffins?

Three of the four top scorers for the Griffins last year are all on separate teams for the 2018-19 season. Ben Street is on the San Diego Gulls, Eric Tangradi is with the Binghampton Devils, and Matt Lorito signed with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. That alone spells out that there is much more icetime to go around for this season.

The Griffins will have fresh faces in Givani Smith, Christoffer Ehn, and David Pope upfront, but they alone will not replace the 75 goals that those three departing forwards scored last season.

I’m not one to predict lineups, but the most-likely group of forward for the Griffins consist of Matt Puempel, Matthew Ford, Dominic Turgeon, Axel Holmstrom, Turner Elson, Dominik Shine, Colin Campbell, and Trevor Yates. All eight of those forwards are returning from the previous season. Chris Terry, Carter Camper, and Wade Megan are the other three forwards that were signed to AHL contracts this offseason.

So without even mentioning the three new players and Zadina, the Griffins already have eleven forwards that they will probably want to play. There is certainly a logjam and movement will need to be made.

But will they make all that room in the lineup and on the ice for Zadina to develop into that offensive dynamo? My hopeful vote is that they will, but I’m cautious.

Having a deep forward group is very good for a younger player, as long as those other forwards can provide the skill that the team needs. If Zadina is the priority, then we have nothing to complain about.

Newly-appointed Head Coach Ben Simon will most likely get a talking to from the front office and they will insist that Zadina gets all the opportunities that he wants to play well. Powerplay time, talented linemates – anything that can have Zadina shine while he is in the AHL.

Coming from the management as well will be the option to keep Zadina down there (possibly) more than he deserves to be. If Zadina stays down in the AHL until the Red Wings have played 41 games, his UFA status slides one more year and he won’t be a UFA until the 2025-26 season. It might be looking too far into the future, but this is something to think about with a team’s elite talent.

Especially since John Tavares just walked away from the team that drafted him, any player sees that as an opportunity to move and possibly make more money playing for another team.

From his play on the ice in the preseason and the certain benefits that come with him playing with the Griffins this season, Zadina really should be a hard lock to be in Grand Rapids for at least the first half of the season.

Zadina has not played well at all during this preseason. It might be his linemates, but both the eye-test and the numbers say the same thing – Zadina has not been his best this preseason.

In just over 64 minutes of icetime at even-strength so far, Zadina has a dreadful 38.89 CF%. That is simply unheard of during the regular season, so I might chalk this up as just being preseason. But individually as well, Zadina has only had 10 shot attempts (5v5) among all his games. Tyler Bertuzzi has eleven attempts in a whole 27 minutes less time on the ice at even-strength than Zadina. Also, only four of his shots actually made it on the net, while Bertuzzi had eight of his eleven hit the goalie or go in for a goal.

On the other hand, Zadina has had six scoring chances at even-strength so far. That places him tied for fifth among his teammates. With these two numbers, it’s clear that when Zadina gets his opportunities, he takes advantage of them. He just doesn’t get that opportunity quite enough.

In the AHL, he is going to be swimming in opportunity and chances to show his offense.

After all of this, Zadina just needs some time to groom his skills and the Red Wings can’t provide that time in their NHL lineup. He is much better suited in the AHL and will hopefully be given a starring role on the Griffins.

This is all up-in-the-air guesswork for the most part, but it is the safest bet to make at this point.

Zadina can make teenage AHL forward history this upcoming season and we should be fully supportive of that.