Krupa: Zadina’s NHL rights to be determined via legal analysis

According to the Detroit News’s Gregg Krupa, the Red Wings and the NHL are attempting to determine whether Filip Zadina’s non-NHL rights belong to the QMJHL’s Halifax Mooseheads or the Red Wings (assuming that the Wings sign Zadina to an NHL contract):

The key, GM Ken Holland told The Detroit News on Friday, is the agreement that got Zadina from playing in the Czech Republic in 2016-17, to the roster of the Halifax Mooseheads, in Nova Scotia, in 2017-18.

Different NHL eligibility applies to European players and players in the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), a major junior association for 16- to 20-year-olds.

And, whether Zadina is a European player on loan to the CHL (the umbrella organization to which the QMJHL, the Ontario Hockey League and the Western Hockey League belong), or officially a CHL player will determine his destination, should the Wings not retain him on the NHL roster after training camp.

If he is a European player, on loan, Zadina could then go to Grand Rapids.

If he is a CHL player, he must return to Halifax, if the Wings do not retain him.

The key is in the details of whatever the Halifax Mooseheads hammered out with HC Dynamo Pardubice, when Zadina decided to play in the QMJHL last season.

If Zadina is not playing in Detroit, in October, the Red Wings clearly would prefer him in Grand Rapids, rather than Halifax.

Krupa continues, and Zadina has a playing say in this, of course, but the Red Wings want to control their player regardless of whether he’s in the NHL or otherwise, so it’s, “Send in the lawyers!”

Update: MLive’s Ansar Khan confirms:

If the NHL determines Zadina to be a European player on loan to the CHL club, then he will be able to play in Grand Rapids in 2018-19, if the Red Wings opt to send him there.

If it is ruled that Zadina is a CHL player, then he must return to Halifax if the Red Wings don’t keep him on their roster.

The Red Wings prefer the option of sending Zadina to Grand Rapids. That way, they can recall him at any time. He’ll also be playing against better competition that will better prepare him for the NHL.

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, when MLive hired me to work their SlapShots blog, and I joined Kukla's Korner in 2011 as The Malik Report. I'm starting The Malik Report as a stand-alone site, hoping that having my readers fund the website is indeed the way to go to build a better community and create better content.

3 thoughts on “Krupa: Zadina’s NHL rights to be determined via legal analysis”

  1. Hope he sticks with the Big Team but GR should be the only other choice. Halifax won’t challenge any improvement in his skill set. Big jump from CHL to GR. Still feel KH/Red Wings should have figured this out before the draft or player interviews. I would think Zadina would have known this before or when he came to North America

  2. With all the work they put in scouting these players you would think this would have been something they should have known about. They may not have thought Zadina would be available to them, but this just seems like a problem they should have been aware of. Maybe it’s just a rarity. Anyway, going back to Europe or the Q are both bad options for Zadina. If he isn’t on the Red Wings opening night roster, he should be in Grand Rapids.

  3. Why blame Holland and the Red Wings for dropping the ball on this? Apparently none of the other 30 teams in the league investigated the matter either. In fact, if the NHL has to get involved to make a ruling on this, it sounds like a pretty rare case.

    It’s not like the Wings would have passed on Zadina if they thought he might have to go back to Halifax.

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