I think Zadina makes for an interesting case study. I give full props to TZE for questioning from day one whether his offense would translate. He sticks out in my mind as the first Zadina bear. Personally, I think he can be better than what he has shown. He still manages to find some pretty good scoring opportunities, but even with a higher conversion rate he would still be a disappointment and at best a third liner. I don't see how he fits with this team moving forward.
A couple of observations:
1. He is limited athletically and it impacts his skating. He isn't explosive and he isn't very quick laterally. He has a very difficult time creating time and space with the puck as a result. He could hold onto the puck for days in Q with his above average puck skills. We probably should have questioned more whether he would be able to do the same at the NHL level given his other traits. Because he has below NHL average size, his brain needs to work overtime to compensate for the fact that his athleticism and skating are limiting. He needs to do more with the puck while having it less.
2. He just isn't that smart of a player, especially without the puck. He chases the play a ton and requires too much time with the puck once he gets it, to process everything that is going on around him and to make a decision about what to do with it. Perhaps if he was bigger this wouldn't be an issue. Perhaps the Q masked this issue more than people thought.
3. Next time some random poster makes some comment about how easy it is for a prospect to improve his skating or starts to rationalize skating weaknesses, think about Zadina. Explosiveness is king and it is very hard to find if you don't already have it.
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