The Detroit Red Wings have decided to loan prospect and this past summer’s sixth overall draft choice Filip Zadina to the Czech Republic.
Filip Zadina will be able to represent the Czech Republic in the World Junior tournament this winter. The Detroit Red Wings organization was on the fence about the decision but concluded he would not be called up even with the plethora of injuries with the big club.
The real loser in this all will be the Grand Rapids Griffins. Zadina has been surging of late finally becoming comfortable playing professional hockey. Z is currently fifth on the Griffins with 15 points. He has 7 goals on the season, although he tends to score them in pairs. He has 7 goals, but 6 of them came during 3 games, scoring a pair in each.
A lot of fans are impatient, and I get it. He was the sixth overall pick. He is a scorer. The Detroit Red Wings have struggled to score over the last few seasons, so they expected Z to crack the lineup right out of camp. To be honest, I expected him to play directly from day one on draft night. I actually had no doubt about it on draft day. It became evident that I was incorrect.
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After watching him compete during the preseason, I, like many others was a bit surprised at how uncomfortable he looked at times. He was not the puck carrier that I expected, and he was not very good during the moments he was playing away from the puck.
He will be an NHLer, he will be a goal scorer, but it won’t be as quick as I expected anyway. I still believe we will see Z in Detroit this season after the trade deadline. The Wings will need to fill a couple of forward spots and Z should get a dozen or so games similar to Evgeny Svechnikov last season.
Allowing Zadina to play at the World Juniors is not the worst idea the Wings have ever had. He will have a chance to dominate a tournament against the best youngsters in the world, and gain more confidence. He was tied for the tournament lead in goals last year with 7. He will have every opportunity to better that number this year and possibly lead the Czech Republic to a medal. Zadina will stay with the Griffins until Dec.20th
Detroit Red Wings prospects Joe Veleno and Jared McIsaac will both be in camp for Team Canada. Joe Veleno is ripping it up this season in junior. He plays for the Drummondville Voltigeurs in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Veleno has 20 goals, 26 assists totaling 46 points in 26 games played so far this season.
I can’t wait to see these kids play in the WJ tourney. If you don’t usually tune in to watch it, I think you should this year just to see Veleno and Zadina. The tourney starts boxing day, December 26th and runs through until Saturday, January 5th.