MLive’s Ansar Khan and Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff both posted reports regarding the comments made by now-San Jose Sharks forward Filip Zadina during his media availability. Here’s Khan’s report..
“Last couple of seasons in Detroit I’ve been hurt all the time,” Zadina said. “It was tough mentally seeing other players playing and I was in the gym and watching those games from the stands and not really being a part of the game. When I wasn’t playing, the other guys who were getting a chance to play, they played well and they earned that spot and it was tough for me to start from the bottom every season. I would rather go somewhere else to get the opportunity and prove myself that I’m still a good player as I used to be.”
The sixth overall pick in 2018 has just 28 goals and 40 assists in 190 games over parts of five seasons. He missed eight weeks last season due to a broken leg and finished with three goals and four assists in 30 games.
He cleared waivers twice because teams did not want to assume the full value of his contract. He admitted he was nervous about his decision.
“I was actually a little scared that the interest is not going to be that high as I wanted,” Zadina said. “But it turned out a lot of teams had big interest to have me on their team. A lot of teams were asking. That was making my decision even harder because there were good teams I could go to. I spoke to a bunch of GMs, a bunch of coaches, a bunch of players called me from different teams. It was really a hard time to decide but I believe I did the right decision going to San Jose.”
And here’s Duff’s report:
Ultimately, that was the determining factor in his choice to approach Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman in regards to getting the chance to go somewhere else.
“I would rather go somewhere else to get the opportunity and prove to myself that I’m still as good a player as I used to be,” Zadina said. “That was kind of what went through my mind when I did that decision to part ways with Detroit.”
Yzerman was accommodating. He tried trading Zadina with no luck. Placing the player on waivers, again there were no takers. Eventually, the Red Wings were granting the Czech forward his unconditional release. He would sign with the Sharks as a free agent.
Zadina was walking away from two more years on a contract with the Red Wings that would’ve paid him $4.56 million. His pact with the Sharks is for one year and will be paying him $1.1 million.
“I kept all the people that were talking to me outside of my head, because I wanted it to only be my decision,” Zadina explained. “I put a lot on the line and I want to be responsible for that the decision, not anybody else.”
If you’re interested, Zadina spoke with the Sharks’ media for over 12 minutes last Tuesday:
Hope he does well but oh so many teams wanted him, but not at 1.8mil…