The Detroit Red Wings made a good choice in deciding to send Filip Zadina to the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins this past weekend.
There’s no shame in the fact that Zadina needs to shake off some of his Quebec League tendencies and desire to do all the work himself instead of simplifying his game and relying more upon his teammates.
Making the jump from Major Junior hockey to the NHL is incredibly difficult, and needing more time to adjust is not a failure on Zadina’s part.
Just as importantly, the Grand Rapids Griffins are going to be fairly stacked this year, providing Zadina with an environment in which he can lean upon talented teammates and near-peers as Zadina embarks upon his pro career.
The Grand Rapids Press’s Peter J. Wallner spoke with Zadina at Griffins practice yesterday…
Here’s Wallner with Zadina in text form–and Wallner’s “First Day of Camp” story includes a 45-image photo gallery:
“They talked to me like two days ago and told me I was going down and I was like OK,” Zadina said. “… I probably don’t know if I was expecting this, that they were going to send me down. They did that, they made a decision and now it’s up to me.”
During the preseason, Zadina showed off a terrific shot but his play on the ice didn’t win over Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill, who wants to see him create more space and grow in confidence.
“So, yeah, I will work on those things,” Zadina said. “I’ll do my best here and help the team to win games and hopefully they will call me up at some point.”
Griffins coach Ben Simon put things perfectly regarding Zadina’s next set of challenges:
“When we’re talking about time and space and creating space, he’s going to have to get bigger and stronger,” Simon said. “He’s competing against men now. He was playing against 17-, 18-year-old kids. Now he’ll be facing 34-year-old guys who are playing essentially to feed their families. He knows that. It’s just a matter of experiencing, it, learning and adjusting as he goes along.”
