Ex-Detroit Red Wing Filip Zadina scores in San Jose Sharks debut

SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks should be a team filled with motivated individuals.

Between the NHL and AHL, the Sharks organization has over 20 players on expiring contracts, including 10 who are set to become unrestricted free agents next summer. Some will land big paydays. Others might simply be hoping for another deal.

Few, though, appear to be as motivated as winger Filip Zadina, a 2018 first-round draft choice who gave up millions in guaranteed money from the Detroit Red Wings this summer to become a free agent.

After he gave up $4.56 million in actual cash, following the mutual termination of his contract, Zadina signed a team-friendly one-year, $1.1 million deal with the Sharks, simply because he wanted a fresh start elsewhere and a chance to play a bigger role, perhaps alongside Tomas Hertl.

In 190 games with the Red Wings, Zadina had just 28 goals and 40 assists, totals not commensurate with a sixth-overall draft pick. One can quibble with how Zadina was developed after he was taken by the Wings in 2018 but had he stayed in Detroit, there’s a chance he would have been placed on waivers this season and assigned to the AHL.

“Every day all summer, (and) in preseason, he worked hard every day,” Sharks center Tomas Hertl said of Zadina, his Czech countryman. “He wants to prove to everybody why he was drafted high, and he expects a lot from himself. I’m here to help him.”

Zadina made an impact in his Sharks regular-season debut Thursday, scoring a first-period goal in what became a 4-1 loss to the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights.

Playing on the Sharks’ top line with Hertl and Mike Hoffman, Zadina had four shots on net and had 16:21 of ice time, more than he had in any of his 30 games last season with the Red Wings when he had three goals and seven points.

“I thought he had a good night,” Sharks coach David Quinn said of Zadina. “The goal, I’m sure, will do wonders for his confidence. But one of the things he has given us since he’s been here is an honest effort. And that’s all you can ask for.”

Zadina’s goal tied the game 1-1 and the Sharks played a strong second period until they allowed goals by Nicolas Hague and Nicolas Roy in the final 89 seconds.

“It feels good (to score) but we lost the game,” Zadina said. “We played really good hockey in the first 38 minutes, we kind of let it go for two minutes, slipped, and we gave up two goals. Then we’re just chasing the game and against that kind of team, it’s pretty hard to score three goals in one period.”

Zadina is starting his sixth full season of North American professional hockey, which is remarkable considering he doesn’t turn 24 until Nov. 27. It feels like he’s been around a long time, having been selected by a high-profile Original Six team in Detroit.

But to it put into greater perspective, Zadina is still less than three years older than some of the Sharks’ top prospects in forwards William Eklund, Thomas Bordeleau, and defensemen Shakir Mukhamadullin, who are all 21.

Also, unlike some of the Sharks’ pending UFAs, there’s a chance he could be in San Jose for years to come. The Sharks are hoping to come out of their rebuild in the next two to three years, and one doesn’t have to squint too hard to see Zadina, a pending restricted free agent, being a part of that planned upswing as a top-nine winger.

The Sharks’ season-opening homestand continues Saturday against the Colorado Avalanche, another elite team. There’s no guarantee Hertl and Zadina will remain on the same line all season but it would be a surprise to see them separated after one game.