We’ve all heard the saying, “You can’t move forward if you’re always looking back”. This rings true for the Detroit Red Wings organization when you refer to the mishap that occurred during the 2018 NHL Draft in Dallas, Texas. The majority of the hockey world was stunned when they saw top goal-scoring prospect Filip Zadina still available at the sixth overall spot in the first round.
Most analysts had the 6-foot-1 scoring dynamo going third overall to the Montreal Canadiens after a stellar draft season that saw him put up 44 goals and 38 assists for the Halifax Mooseheads of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). He seemed to possess all the elite tools that NHL teams crave – a natural goal scorer with a wicked shot to go along with a high-end hockey IQ. A projected 35-40 goal scorer was just what the doctor ordered for Detroit, and management was thrilled to land him at that spot. The future, all of a sudden, began to look bright for an organization that had just entered the early parts of a long overdue rebuild. Zadina was supposed to be the face of the next generation of Red Wings’ superstars.
The 2018 Draft did not pan out the way most pundits predicted it would. The Canadiens opted to take center Jesperi Kotkaniemi at third overall, the first real surprise of the draft, after the Buffalo Sabres and the Carolina Hurricanes selected Rasmus Dahlin and Andrei Svechnikov with the first two picks. The Ottawa Senators then took winger Brady Tkachuk at four, followed by the Arizona Coyotes going off the board by selecting center Barrett Hayton with the fifth pick.
Former Red Wings general manager Ken Holland and his staff couldn’t get to the podium fast enough to snatch up Zadina in what appeared, at the time, to be the steal of the draft. Hockeytown rejoiced as the Czech native promised to “fill Ottawa’s and Montreal’s nets with pucks” after they passed on him. It looked like Detroit had found their next elite, goal-scoring winger. But things don’t always play out the way we expect. Trying to project an 18-year-old’s future is an extremely difficult challenge for scouts and sadly things did not go as planned for the highly touted forward.
It’s safe to say Zadina’s time in Detroit was anything but a disaster. His goal-scoring prowess never translated to the pros and his frustrations – as well as the…
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