Wednesday night’s 5-1 loss to the New York Rangers dropped the Detroit Red Wings to 4-13-1 on the season and a shocking 1-11-1 in their past 12 games.
It would be easy to say that it’s time to simply give the young players in Grand Rapids a shot at regular NHL action. However, one top NHL analyst believes in the possibility of the team trading away one of their top prospects.
Filip Zadina, who was drafted with Detroit’s first overall pick in 2018, has struggled to find consistency and has also been dealing with confidence issues. He didn’t overwhelm the team in training camp this year or last year, and has looked as though he’s taken longer than expected to adjust to North American style of play. Last year with Grand Rapids, he scored 16 goals in 59 games, and currently has has three goals in 12 games this season.
NBC analyst Pierre McGuire was asked on TSN radio if Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman could consider trading Zadina if he doesn’t make improvements in short order.
“It’s a fair question to bring up,” McGuire said. “When I’ve watched him play, the one thing that stands out is when the puck is going his way, it’s really good. When it’s not going his way, it’s not so good. He’s going to have to find a way to get over that.
“You have to compete without the puck, you gotta want to get it back and you can’t quit on plays. That’s something I’ve seen him do when it hasn’t gone his way. When it goes his way, he’s pretty good. But we’ll see. It’s pretty early in his career.”
Zadina played nine games with the Red Wings during his first and only NHL call-up last season, and scored once.
