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Red Wings: Top Three Players Most Impacted by Postponed Season

By John Manzo

DETROIT, MICHIGAN - DECEMBER 12: Filip Zadina #11 of the Detroit Red Wings celebrates his second period goal with teammates while playing the Winnipeg Jets at Little Caesars Arena on December 12, 2019 in Detroit, Michigan. Detroit won the game 5-2. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
DETROIT, MICHIGAN - DECEMBER 12: Filip Zadina #11 of the Detroit Red Wings celebrates his second period goal with teammates while playing the Winnipeg Jets at Little Caesars Arena on December 12, 2019 in Detroit, Michigan. Detroit won the game 5-2. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /
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These three Detroit Red Wings were surging before the NHL postponed the season due to increased concern over COVID-19.

Win or lose, watching hockey is better than not watching hockey.

For guys like Justin Abdelkader (0 goals, 3 assists) and Frans Nielsen (4 goals, 5 assists), a little layoff – although not under these circumstances – might do them some good.

On the flipside, other Detroit Red Wings were peaking, which feels good and signifies hope for an organization that is used to being atop the standings versus the bottom.

Here are our top choices of Red Wings who were impacted most from the recent postponed season.

Filip Zadina

The second-year forward has been out since a 1-0 loss to the New York Rangers on Feb. 1 with a lower-body injury. For Zadina, the postponed NHL season couldn’t have happened at much worse of a time.

After a rocky rookie season getting used to the professional game, Zadina was playing like the offensive guru he was labeled as coming into the 2018 NHL Draft.

In 28 games, he scored eight goals with seven assists and was set to return to the lineup sooner rather than later after skating at a March practice prior to the postponement. This would have been good seasoning for a young player who we envision as part of the core.

Anthony Mantha

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When forward Anthony Mantha came back from a mid-February injury and said he wanted to finish the year averaging a point per game, I thought he was crazy. Well, in the 14 games since returning from injury, he’s averaged exactly a point per game.

Four of those points (1 goal, 3 assists) came in the team’s 5-4 shootout victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 8, two games before the NHL announced the postponed season.

He was on his game, and it was cut short…for now.

Robby Fabbri

This is cut and dry. Robby Fabbri has been a spark to the Red Wings’ lackluster offense and it flat-out stinks not being able to watch him play.

The rest will do him some good given Detroit’s season was lost months ago and he has an injury history, but selfishly I want to watch some more Fabbri, OK?

So much better than Jacob de la Rose.

Thank you, Steve Yzerman.

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