Detroit Red Wings: Jeff Blashill’s Misuse of Filip Zadina

The Detroit Red Wings drafted Filip Zadina in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, and now in the 2019-20 season, he is significantly misused by Coach Jeff Blashill. Even following recent injuries, Zadina is still only seeing around thirteen minutes of ice time a game.

After the organization has decided to burn a year of his entry-level contract, the Detroit Red Wings have been misusing Filip Zadina, who is one of the most promising prospects the organization possesses. Coach Jeff Blashill has almost seemingly refused to play Zadina more than fourth-liner minutes, which is just shocking on a team that is in this state.

There is no excuse as to why the Red Wings would neglect to use Filip Zadina and allow him to develop at the NHL level in their current glory at the bottom of the standings.

Currently, the Red Wings have dropped their last six games, sitting dead last in the league, with only nine wins on the season.

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They have also suffered injury losses to forward Anthony Mantha, who will be out for an extended time period with his upper-body injury, which means there is a slot open in the Red Wings top-six forwards. Supposedly, the organization feels that Luke Glendening and Darren Helm are better suited for the top six forwards on this team.

Since the Detroit Red Wings game against the Los Angeles Kings, Zadina has not seen more than thirteen minutes of ice time in a game. Over fourteen total games, Zadina has managed three goals and six assists for nine total points. He is a minus two on the year in the time he is allotted to be on the ice. Currently, his average time on ice (ATOI) stands at 14:07, which is far lower than it should be on this team.

Zadina has a 46.3% Corsi For percentage (CF%), which is 1.4% above the team average. Mainly, when Zadina is on the ice, the team takes more shots than they allow.

Being only twenty years old, Zadina still has time to mature and become a real force for this Red Wings team, but playing thirteen minutes, a game is not going to let him develop and grow into the stud/superstar player he was drafted to become.

Do not get it twisted, giving him four more minutes a game is not going to make Zadina into the next Auston Matthews or even Mitch Marner, but it will work wonders for him.

Zadina getting more ice time will allow him to develop and grow WHILE playing against NHL caliber talent, not AHL, and not on the bench. If Blashill was going to be smart, he would be playing Zadina more, allowing him to become the NHL talent he is supposed to be.