Filip Zadina, "3 years" and 176 pro games later, where is he at atm?

[Fatass]

It has lesser high end prospects, but that certainly doesn't change the quality of competition in the actual league, the Q bring more prospects have been trending south of late.

The Q routinely has less goals than the O at present time, while the W has pretty easily been the weakest of the three leagues in regards to the top teams.

Outside of Lafreniere, who is the last draft eligible player to really dominate the Q? Even Nico Hischier didn't exactly light it up.

The Q in 2025 is objectively a significantly better league than the 1990's lol and yes, Q teams winning the memorial cup as best Junior team in Canada absolutely reflects this...what are you smoking?

Was Zadina one of those young players who physically matured before his peers? It’s like scouts can get tricked, sometimes, into believing a CHL player’s success is because of his skill, when actually it’s more so because he’s already a man who is playing against (mostly) boys.

 

[Hockeyville USA]

Was Zadina one of those young players who physically matured before his peers? It’s like scouts can get tricked, sometimes, into believing a CHL player’s success is because of his skill, when actually it’s more so because he’s already a man who is playing against (mostly) boys.

The late birthday that gave him the extra year to stat pad his resume. His 17 year old season production in the Czech Junior league was meh at best.

 

[TimeZone]

It needs to produce high end NHLers more consistently. Especially Quebec born & trained ones. It's not a good look for the league when Dean, Bourgault, Nause, Kidney, Huckins all have failed or are underwater in terms of becoming consistent NHLers, while L'Heureux might be slightly above replacement level. At least Bolduc looks good from the 2021 Draft.

So many Q guys have failed to live up to expectations: Lafreniere, Zadina, Veleno, Poulin, Lapierre & more. Even Mercer and Pelletier who looked good for awhile have taken steps back.

The Q has certianly struggled to produce high end prospects of late, but that doesn't change quality of compeition at present time.

The Q does a good job and poaching talent from other leagues, they have some quality overage talent and have for some years now, the physical difference between a 20 year old very good Junior player and a 17 year old with NHL upside can be quite drastic. We used to routinely see Russian teams that were primarily filled with mid-low ceiling players compete at a high level in the world Juniors year after year as Bragin put a primary emphasis on the tournament being almost exclusive to 19 year olds(obviously there were high end exceptions)

Most of the names you mentioned were mid-late first round picks, didn't exactly dominate the Q during their Draft years.

The key regarding scouting is actually projecting who is not necessarily the best player right now, but who will be superior down the line as well as who plays a more translatable game, the latter is where the Q has struggled, in the grand scheme the overage players and their physical edges won't matter, but at this particular point and time regarding present competition, it's absolutely relevant.

When it comes to league strength the Q is doing quite well due to it's strong influx of overage talent, but there is no denying it's struggled to produce quality NHL prospects of late.

 

[TimeZone]

Was Zadina one of those young players who physically matured before his peers? It’s like scouts can get tricked, sometimes, into believing a CHL player’s success is because of his skill, when actually it’s more so because he’s already a man who is playing against (mostly) boys.

He was a bulldog in the Q, not so much different from the overage players I mentioned above.

I seen him play several times, he had a wicked shot, but otherwise I never came away impressed. The last prospect to really "wow" me in person from the Q was probably Nico, even Lafreniere(who I am a fan of) gave me concerns at the next level due some skating woes and an inconsistent motor.

That said I still thought Laffy would be a star, especially after the world juniors.

I think teams just fell in love with his shot and became a tad shortsighted quite honestly, though I only seen him play several times.

 

[bleedgreen]

This? Really? Aren’t all the axes ground to dust by now?

 

[Fatass]

This? Really? Aren’t all the axes ground to dust by now?

What’s wrong with discussing why some high picks don’t succeed? I’ve learned so far that Zadina was older, and physically more mature than many of the boys he was being compared to and playing against. He was a bull with a great shot.
He was ranked as high as #3OA but some clubs passed on him and Detroit thought he was a good get where the drafted.
The scouts get fooled by some players. Seems Zadina was one of those guys.

 

[57special]

What’s wrong with discussing why some high picks don’t succeed? I’ve learned so far that Zadina was older, and physically more mature than many of the boys he was being compared to and playing against. He was a bull with a great shot.
He was ranked as high as #3OA but some clubs passed on him and Detroit thought he was a good get where the drafted.
The scouts get fooled by some players. Seems Zadina was one of those guys.

Similar to Kakko and Podkolzin? Very strong junior players who lost that advantage once they got into the pros playing against men? You can add Bellows to that list, though he was a later pick than those three.

 

[Hockeyville USA]

Similar to Kakko and Podkolzin? Very strong junior players who lost that advantage once they got into the pros playing against men? You can add Bellows to that list, though he was a later pick than those three.

Kakko was really good in Liiga as a 17 year old, but Liiga is fairly overrated as a European Pro league and not close to the SHL in terms of quality. Kakko got rushed into the NHL and parked on the 3rd/4th line instead of getting big minutes in the A. Podkolzin, agreed, he was very overhyped.

 

[Fatass]

Similar to Kakko and Podkolzin? Very strong junior players who lost that advantage once they got into the pros playing against men? You can add Bellows to that list, though he was a later pick than those three.

Exactly. Sometimes these early maturing guys work out if they can change their game to be more of a bottom of the lineup crash and banger. That’s got to be in their dna though. It seems Zadina was a guy who thought himself a scorer. He couldn’t make the change in how he played so it didn’t work out for him. Lots of top 10 picks don’t succeed in the nhl or play lower in the lineup than what their drafting club hoped. And usually if they do change their game to stay in the nhl it’s not on the club that drafted them.

 

[SirKillalot]

Kakko was really good in Liiga as a 17 year old, but Liiga is fairly overrated as a European Pro league and not close to the SHL in terms of quality.

The Finnish league is not overhyped at all. Its a good league and doing well there early is solid.
The difference is money and opportunities. Finnish teams are not afraid to give younger players the chance if they are good.

 

[SirKillalot]

Zadina could have been good if one didn't try to make him into a checking forward.
That's the problem sometimes with development and opportunity. Going to far one way and forgetting what he was good at and why you drafted him in the first place.

Need to play players in their role and work on the other aspects of their game.
Not put them into just those aspects in a checking role and hope he produce offense while trying to playing him in a different and defensive matter as to when that doesn't work the confidence takes hits as well when one don't produce as well.

 

[Hockeyville USA]

The Finnish league is not overhyped at all. Its a good league and doing well there early is solid.
The difference is money and opportunities. Finnish teams are not afraid to give younger players the chance if they are good.

Maybe overhyped is the wrong word, but people just assume that because Finland is next to Sweden that Liiga is directly on par with the SHL, which it isn't. People assume that high end Liiga players will be able to just step right into the NHL & produce like high end SHLers do, and they can't most of the time. Puljujarvi and Kakko prove that. Guys like Hintz, Lundell, & Aho spending extra time in Liiga, Rantanen spending a full year in the A are positive examples of guys who weren't rushed into the NHL in their 18 year old season or 19 year old season (Aho being the exception who was able to step in as a 19 year old and produce right off the bat).

 

[MCR74]

Is he filling the net yet?

 

[NVious]

Is he filling the net yet?

He had 13 goals with the Sharks last year.

Sharks are a bad team so I'm pro rating it to a 20 goal season with a good team.

With a really good team, that's basically 30 goals.

So yes he's a 30 goal scorer by my math.

~FZ

 

[MCR74]

He had 13 goals with the Sharks last year.

Sharks are a bad team so I'm pro rating it to a 20 goal season with a good team.

With a really good team, that's basically 30 goals.

So yes he's a 30 goal scorer by my math.

~FZ

Creative accounting. Well done.

 

[Brookbank]

Is Zach Benson on the same development track ?

 

[TheNewEra]

if he wants to be an nhler, he needs to take league minimum in the right situation and rebuild his value, essentially what drouin did

it was easier for drouin since he had that nice montreal contract before having to do that. So it really comes down to if he wants to play in the nhl or take more money now overseas

dallas/tampa/minnesota could be solid fits for him

 

[WarriorofTime]

It has lesser high end prospects, but that certainly doesn't change the quality of competition in the actual league, the Q bring more prospects have been trending south of late. The Q typically has quality overage players, 20/21 year olds with or without NHL potential are nothing to sneeze at physically for 17/18 year old kids.

The Q routinely has less goals than the O at present time, while the W has pretty easily been the weakest of the three leagues in regards to the top teams.

Outside of Lafreniere, who is the last draft eligible player to really dominate the Q? Even Nico Hischier didn't exactly light it up.

The Q in 2025 is objectively a significantly better league than the 1990's lol and yes, Q teams winning the memorial cup as best Junior team in Canada absolutely reflects this...what are you smoking?

The QMJHL is not a great league. Not a lot of players that make NHL or even AHL. The Memorial Cup teams do better because it's the smallest league in terms of number of teams, so the best players in the league are more compacted into the teams that are competitive. If there are only 18 teams and half aren't trying to compete that year, that leaves 9 teams, if half of those are really going for it, that's like 4 teams. WHL has 22 teams so adjust all of that accordingly.

 

[WarriorofTime]

The late birthday that gave him the extra year to stat pad his resume. His 17 year old season production in the Czech Junior league was meh at best.

Lots of high picks with late birthdays have great success, what you say could be copy/pasted about Draisaitl whose "age 17" stats in WHL weren't anything special and then broke out in his "age 18" draft year. Players can't control when their birth month happens to fall.

Zadina just did not develop as intended. He stalled out, then as he lost confidence, regressed. Once he stopped getting the benefit of the doubt as a highly regarded prospect, fell out of favor and so that was it. It happens with so many prospects that it's not too surprising. Had he hung around in North America, played in the AHL, gone through waivers a bunch, etc. might have had a good chance to work his way back into NHL at some point (see Mark Jankowski is playing in the NHL playoffs all these years later) but it looks like he will be more of a Euro All-Star type instead.

 

[Czechboy]

He busted out. I don't think he makes it back but he did look great for the Czechs today at the World Championships. Such a shame!

 

[Chel Guy]

Exactly. Sometimes these early maturing guys work out if they can change their game to be more of a bottom of the lineup crash and banger. That’s got to be in their dna though. It seems Zadina was a guy who thought himself a scorer. He couldn’t make the change in how he played so it didn’t work out for him. Lots of top 10 picks don’t succeed in the nhl or play lower in the lineup than what their drafting club hoped. And usually if they do change their game to stay in the nhl it’s not on the club that drafted them.

Prime example of a player that did this is Sam Bennett. Couldn't find his footing in Calgary as a 4th overall pick, but has now become an impact player in Florida. However, he was always good in the playoffs, even with Calgary.

 

[Canovin]

I always thought he was one of the safer prospects to make it in the NHL. Never imagine him to be out of the league this early.

The issue with Zadina is he's only played for shitty teams. Going from a bad Detroit team to San Jose can't be good for any players development.

 

[TimeZone]

The QMJHL is not a great league. Not a lot of players that make NHL or even AHL. The Memorial Cup teams do better because it's the smallest league in terms of number of teams, so the best players in the league are more compacted into the teams that are competitive. If there are only 18 teams and half aren't trying to compete that year, that leaves 9 teams, if half of those are really going for it, that's like 4 teams. WHL has 22 teams so adjust all of that accordingly.

I've already addressed all of this.

Their memorial cup teams do better because the Q has consistently pumped out higher quality teams because their high end squads have generally been the best in the CHL.

The WHL is far and away the weakest in terms of quality of competition in 2025, how they project at the next level is irrelevant in regards to current level of competition. It's no different then when we see prospects in Bantam or Peewee get bumped up an age group, they'll typically have a tougher time against physically more advanced kids. The Q has generally pumped out more competitive overage talent, while the O's prospects typically graduate to the next level faster. It really isn't that complex.

The Q has certianly struggled to produce high end prospects of late, but that doesn't change quality of compeition at present time.

The Q does a good job and poaching talent from other leagues, they have some quality overage talent and have for some years now, the physical difference between a 20 year old very good Junior player and a 17 year old with NHL upside can be quite drastic. We used to routinely see Russian teams that were primarily filled with mid-low ceiling players compete at a high level in the world Juniors year after year as Bragin put a primary emphasis on the tournament being almost exclusive to 19 year olds(obviously there were high end exceptions)

Most of the names you mentioned were mid-late first round picks, didn't exactly dominate the Q during their Draft years.

The key regarding scouting is actually projecting who is not necessarily the best player right now, but who will be superior down the line as well as who plays a more translatable game, the latter is where the Q has struggled, in the grand scheme the overage players and their physical edges won't matter, but at this particular point and time regarding present competition, it's absolutely relevant.

When it comes to league strength the Q is doing quite well due to it's strong influx of overage talent, but there is no denying it's struggled to produce quality NHL prospects of late.

 

[Chel Guy]

I've already addressed all of this.

Their memorial cup teams do better because the Q has consistently pumped out higher quality teams because their high end squads have generally been the best in the CHL.

The WHL is far and away the weakest in terms of quality of competition in 2025, how they project at the next level is irrelevant in regards to current level of competition. It's no different then when we see prospects in Bantam or Peewee get bumped up an age group, they'll typically have a tougher time against physically more advanced kids. The Q has generally pumped out more competitive overage talent, while the O's prospects typically graduate to the next level faster. It really isn't that complex.

The WHL is definitely not the weakest.

It goes OHL > WHL > QMJHL. Been that way for a long time. There was years where the dub was even producing more NHL players than the O and Q.

 

[WarriorofTime]

I've already addressed all of this.

Their memorial cup teams do better because the Q has consistently pumped out higher quality teams because their high end squads have generally been the best in the CHL.

The WHL is far and away the weakest in terms of quality of competition in 2025, how they project at the next level is irrelevant in regards to current level of competition. It's no different then when we see prospects in Bantam or Peewee get bumped up an age group, they'll typically have a tougher time against physically more advanced kids. The Q has generally pumped out more competitive overage talent, while the O's prospects typically graduate to the next level faster. It really isn't that complex.

Repeating yourself and ignoring what was said is not the same as having "already addressed" what I mentioned