Filip Zadina get the call he’s been waiting for from the Detroit Red Wings

Help is on the way in the form of Filip Zadina.  The Detroit Red Wings have decided to call up the rookie forward prior to today’s game.

Filip Zadina struggled throughout the NHL preseason during his audition to make the Detroit Red Wings opening night roster out of training camp.  It was apparent the game was to fast, he struggled to keep up and often tried to stickhandle rather than head north and south on the ice.

One of the plays that still seems fresh in my mind was during a preseason game versus the Chicago Blackhawks.  The terrific two-way center Jonathan Toews took the young rookie to school.  Zadina was near the Wings’ blueline trying to stickhandle down the wall, but Toews pick his pocket and heading into the Wings zone with a scoring chance before Zadina knew what had happened.

As similar things continued to occur and scoring chances were few and far between it was evident that Zadina wasn’t ready for the big stage.  Things have changed over the last six weeks.  Although Zadina isn’t quite prepared to be a staple in the Detroit Red Wings lineup, he’s progressed nicely with the Grand Rapids Griffins.  It’s time for Zadina to have a cup of coffee in the show and the timing is perfect.

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I suspected all season long that Zadina would be called up to play somewhere around nine games this season.  The team did this last year with Evgeny Svechnikov who responded nicely.  He wasn’t great and didn’t play big minutes be he was able to get his feet wet and have a taste of what it’s like in the NHL.

He played 14 games and recorded 4 points.  The hope was he would have a great summer in the gym and make the team out of camp.  He had a strong camp and preseason and expected to make the opening day roster until the unfortunate knee injury occurred.

The Wings seemingly are taking a similar approach with Filip Zadina.  The timing initially seemed odd to me, but after listening to Jeff Blashill at his post-game press conference after the Minnesota game, it all made sense.

Head coach Jeff Blashill mentioned Zadina would be called up now as Griffins head coach Ben Simon told him it was a perfect time as Zadina is playing very well at the moment for Grand Rapids.  Also, the franchise hopes the Griffins will endure a long playoff run in hopes of once again capturing the Calder Cup.

That being said the Detroit Red Wings would rather see Filip Zadina play up to nine NHL games now and returning him to the Griffins prior to the start of AHL playoffs.  The club wants Zadina to play a few more Griffins regular season games and freshen up the chemistry with his linemates before entering into the playoffs.

If Zadina plays less than 10 NHL games, it doesn’t burn the first year of his Entry Level Contract, so it is in the Detroit Red Wings best interest to limit him to a maximum of 10 games.  The early chatter is that Zadina will start on the third line playing with Thomas Vanek and Luke Glendening.  He’s also bumped Frans Nielson off of the second power-play unit.  The odd man out is Jacob de La Rose as Michael Rasmussen is expected to center the fourth line.

In 45 games with the Griffins, this season Filip Zadina has recorded 15 goals and 16 assists totaling 31 points and is a minus -9 on the season.  My advice would be; don’t grip the stick too tight, shot the puck and enjoy the moment.  The Red Wings square off with the San Jose Sharks this afternoon at 3 pm in Detroit.