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Filip Zadina Contract Signed, RFA Winger Stays Put

Filip Zadina contract

The Detroit Red Wings signed Filip Zadina to a new, three-year contract worth $5.475 million, or $1.825 million per season. The contract carries the right wing through the 2024-25 season. ESPN and NHL Network’s Kevin Weekes first reported the deal.

Filip Zadina Contract Signed, RFA Winger Stays in Detroit

In 160 career games, Zadina posted 25 goals and 36 assists for 61 points to date. Last season, he set new career highs across the board. He suited up for 74 games and potted 10 goals and 14 assists, marking his first double-digit goal campaign. His ice time slipped some, to 14:11 per night, but the 22 year old remains part of the team’s core for the time being. Detroit first selected him in the first round, sixth overall, of the 2018 entry draft. Unfortunately, that high selection still mismatches a little bit against his performance thus far. That being said, only eight others taken in that year’s draft have more points than him to-date. Of those eight, four were drafted ahead of him.

What remains encouraging, though, are Zadina’s advanced statistics. His Corsi-for percentage sat at 51.4%, with a relative Corsi for of 6.5%. Considering the state of hockey in Detroit, those numbers represent something of interest. They remain in a full-fledged rebuild, but accumulated plenty of pieces that push things in the right direction. Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi, and Jakub Vrana lead the team upfront. These names feel like “veterans” on a young Detroit team, despite each being well under 30 and just entering the prime of their careers. Zadina remains one of the youngest on the team. Only Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond come in younger, and were the team’s first round selections in the two years after Zadina.

What This Means for the Future

Since 2017, Detroit drafted someone in the top ten each and every season. That began with Michael Rasmussen at ninth overall that year, and continued with all the names mentioned above. Most recently, defenceman Simon Edvinsson (2021, sixth overall) and centre Marco Kasper (2022, eighth overall) joined that run of selections. All of those individuals remain in the Wings’ organization. And all of the ones taken from 2017 to 2020 will be on the opening night roster again.

This team looks ready to take a step forward. They missed the playoffs for a sixth year in a row last year, by a massive 26-point gap too. That being said, all playoff teams in the East last season accumulated at least 100 points. That never happened in league history before, and likely won’t happen again next year. If the playoff cut line comes down a handful of points, and Detroit picks up a handful more, the gap should reduce considerably. While it likely won’t be enough to squeak in quite yet, they are closer than they’ve been in awhile. And with budding prospects, anything can happen. Should Zadina take a large step forward, maybe they contend significantly sooner than anticipated.

Oh, they also entered the summer with north of $31 million in cap space. Maybe throwing just half of that at decent free agents changes their outlook significantly. The ultimate point here: Detroit is getting better, and its happening fast.

Robert MacDonald

Robert MacDonald

Robert MacDonald is a former collegiate goaltender for St. Olaf College (Div 3 NCAA) and Western Washington University (Div 2 ACHA). He also rostered briefly with the Winkler Flyers (MJHL) and Wenatchee Wild (NAHL), but played most of his junior career with the Bellingham Blazers (NPHL). Robert began contributing with LWOH in 2018. Today, he also serves the Seattle Kraken organization as an Emergency Backup Goaltender (EBUG).

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