Two Things: On ‘best friends’ and Filip Zadina’s modern comparables

Of Red Wings-related note this morning:

1. In the “Funny Ha” vein, the Wings posted a video in which prospects David Pope and Jack Adams took the “best friends’ challenge”:

2. And ESPN’s Chris Peters attempted to find present-day comparable players for the NHL’s top draft picks:

Filip Zadina, RW, Detroit Red Wings

2018 draft: No. 6 overall draft pick
Top comparison: Filip Forsberg

Filip Zadina is probably one of the more skilled players in the draft, which makes him both exciting and a little difficult to compare. He plays a style very much his own and showed many different sides of himself throughout his draft season. You can see how he pulled different things from different players. Most of all, however, he is a goal scorer.

Zadina averaged 0.77 goals in his first and likely only QMJHL season with the Halifax Mooseheads. As a late birthdate, his goal rate was similar to that of both Nikolaj Ehlers and Giroux in their draft-plus-one seasons, and slightly ahead of Anthony Mantha‘s draft year in which he was also a late birthdate. Additionally, his 1.44 points-per-game rate was similar to that of Mikhail Grigorenko, Anthony Beauvillier and Zadina’s countryman Jakub Voracek in their U19 QMJHL seasons.

You can see some elements of Milan Hejduk, whom Zadina grew up idolizing, in his game. You can also see some David Pastrnak in there, too, based on how proficient he is at both scoring from distance and attacking the net. Pastrnak, as was pointed out by Patrice Bergeron during the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season, has become especially committed to forcing turnovers and getting the puck back when he doesn’t have it. I saw that a ton with Zadina last season, as well. He is all energy, all the time.

One of the scouts I spoke with said he sees bits of Vladimir Tarasenko in there, and some Filip Forsberg, too. The Forsberg comparison is the one that stuck with me the most. The skill level that Zadina possesses is one thing, but the confidence he has on the puck is where I see the most striking similarities. He isn’t afraid to try things, and he believes he’s going to beat the defender every time out. He also protects the puck very similarly to Forsberg. I think both stylistically and impact-wise, Zadina is going to trend very similarly to the Nashville Predators winger.