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Zadina signs entry-level contract

July 7, 2018, 8:03 PM ET [5 Comments]
Bob Duff
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Detroit Red Wings have locked up the player that some in the organization are already pegging as the best pure goal scorer on the team, and they have locked him up in more ways than one.

Winger Filip Zadina, selected sixth overall by Detroit in last month’s NHL entry draft, agreed to terms with the team on a three-year entry level contract.

“I’m so glad I can be part of the Detroit organization because the people here, especially the fans, they’re awesome,” Zadina said.




And it would appear that one way or another, Zadina, 18, will be turning pro. Selected from the QMJHL’s Halifax Mooseheads, the Wings suggested that since Zadina was loaned to the Mooseheads by Pardubice, his club in his native Czech Republic, he wasn’t covered by the NHL-CHL agreement. Under the terms of that pact, all junior-aged players with CHL teams who don’t make NHL rosters must be returned to the junior team. The NHL agreed with the Wings that Zadina’s loan deal did not place him under this regulation, and that gives the Wings the option of assigning Zadina to AHL Grand Rapids if necessary.

Based on the comments of Detroit’s talent assessors following last week’s development camp, unless Zadina goes south in training camp in the fall, he’s going to be a Red Wing to start the 2018-19 NHL season.

“You guys saw it,” Wings director of player development Shawn Horcoff told the assembled media following the conclusion of the five-day camp. “We’re happy that he fell to us. He’s got an elite skill package. He was dancing out there.

“He’s a young kid. He’s got to put on some strength but he’s got all the skills to be a heck of a player in the league.”

This was not news to those who’d witnessed the six-foot, 196-pound Zadina score 44 goals in 57 games for the Mooseheads during the 2017-18 season.

“He challenges you,” said Halifax defenseman Jared McIsaac, selected 36th overall by the Wings in the 2018 draft. “I try to match up with him as much as possible (in practice). It’s pretty tough but I enjoy the challenge.”

Perhaps the best part of Zadina’s assembly is that for all the talent and pure scoring touch he brings to the ice, he takes nothing for granted.

“I just want to work on being faster on the ice and stronger, pretty simple things,” Zadina said of his summer plans, before talking about the opportunity he’ll face in the fall to carve out a spot on the big team.

“What I know is it’s going to be very hard for me. If I play my best and work harder than the other players here, I can make it. We’ll see for sure. It’s going to be very hard for me because it’s a pretty good team. I would love to play there but it’s going to be lots of work ahead of me.”

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