Among the “ramblings” of DobberHockey’s Michael Clifford this morning is this statistically-driven fantasy hockey analysis of one Filip Zadina, who under-performed from a fantasy hockey standpoint last year:
Filip Zadina: With the offseason additions of David Perron, Andrew Copp, and Dominik Kubalik, plus a healthy Jakub Vrana, a top-6 role for Zadina looks more distant than ever. That, in and of itself, is a big issue for his fantasy relevance in most formats. He didn’t produce well last year in terms of raw points, with 24 in 74 games playing 14:11 a game, but he may have been a bit unlucky. His IPP at 5-on-5 was 42.4%, good for 303rd out of 306 forwards with at least 700 minutes. His first two full-ish seasons saw him post a mark of 65.6%. Had he managed that mark, he would have added roughly eight points to his total, and that would have made his season look considerably better.
Having good line mates helps a lot, and Zadina’s three most-common line mates in 2021-22 were Pius Suter, Adam Erne, and Michael Rasmussen. He has largely been kept away from the team’s top stars and that’s going to continue in 2022-23 barring injury or a huge jump in his game. But he has shown some good offensive flashes and likes to shoot the puck. He is definitely a player to monitor as the season wears on because some improve line mate quality could lead to a much better season, at least in spurts.
Continued; I’m not worried about Zadina’s spot in the lineup causing him production woes. He may do better with Dominik Kubalik and Pius Suter as his complementary winger and center, respectively, on a less pressure-packed third line. I like that trio.
