Are Filip Zadina’s days numbered with the Detroit Red Wings?

The Detroit Red Wings have a few more games left in their 2021-22 season, then General Manager (GM) Steve Yzerman will immediately start looking ahead. Even though he’s likely already been planning and thinking forward, there will be changes incoming.

There’s nothing certain, and it will be a long offseason before the Detroit Red Wings take the ice again this summer/early next fall. One of the pending moves could be the departure of forward Filip Zadina.

He’s still a restricted free agent and will be able to be brought back, likely if Yzerman does want to go that route. However, a sign-and-trade or trade-and-sign type of deal may be imminent for the Red Wings when it comes to the former first-rounder.

Things have not quite panned out the way that the Red Wings were hoping they would, and Zadina’s days may be numbered. There’s an increasingly higher chance that Yzerman opts to move him, considering as he was possibly trade bait near the deadline.

Filip Zadina’s days with the Detroit Red Wings are numbered.

Maybe I am jumping the gun. Maybe I am getting ahead of myself. Looking at Zadina’s performance over the last four (realistically three) seasons with the Red Wings, there has not been much to resemble the player the team thought they drafted.

Zadina was expected to be a goal-scoring machine or at least a sniper-like shooting threat in the offensive zone. He’s only scored 24 goals over 155 games and only scored more goals than he had assists on one occasion in 2019-20 when he had eight goals and seven assists.

While he still has time to offset these numbers in 2021-22, with nine goals and 12 assists over 69 games played for the Red Wings, the likelihood is not high. The production that was expected out of Zadina has not been there.

That being said, it seems a lot more likely that Yzerman will start shopping around the former first-round pick. While the team is not going to net a first-round pick back or some crazy trade package, there may be something that catches the eye of Yzerman.

If there’s someone who’s directly impacted the future of this organization with good trades, it’s Yzerman. He’s made some impressive moves thus far, bringing in quality packages without giving up too much on the other end.

There’s nothing set in stone, no teams waiting in line for Zadina when the season ends, but this offseason might be time for Yzerman to explore Zadina’s future($) with the Red Wings. I find it hard to think that they would let him walk in free agency instead of investing in another year or trying to flip him, especially being a restricted free agent.

Who knows what Yzerman has up his sleeve? One thing I do know is that I trust the Yzerplan.