Why Filip Zadina was waived and could Detroit still add a scorer? Steve Yzerman takeaways

DETROIT — About an hour before Steve Yzerman stepped into the Red Wings’ media room Monday to explain his thinking after a busy free agency weekend, news of a more surprising move leaked out.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that Detroit had placed former sixth overall pick Filip Zadina on waivers, and when Yzerman arrived, the general manager explained why.

“A couple weeks prior to the draft, through his agent, he had asked if he could potentially go somewhere else looking for more opportunity, a fresh start,” Yzerman said. “So, I’ve tried to do that. I’ve tried to find a place for him to play, somebody who’s interested in Filip, would maybe give him that opportunity. I haven’t been able to do that. So in putting him on waivers today, I’m trying to give him an opportunity to go somewhere to an organization if he wants to play more. We’ll see if that happens.”

That Zadina might want a fresh start is not, in itself, surprising. The idea of trading him elsewhere has been bandied about for a couple of seasons now, always with the logic that a change of scenery might help him capture his potential.

But Monday’s move should not be read as the Red Wings simply giving up on the chance it might happen in Detroit. In fact, Yzerman is still hopeful it will happen in Detroit — and said he saw progress in that direction at times last season, even in an injury-plagued campaign.

“I don’t write his career off by any means,” Yzerman said. “I thought he made significant steps. It’s been a challenge for him, he’s had some injuries playing in Detroit, I think he’s got upside. I think he still can become a valuable player in the NHL. Last year was cut short, or held back, due to injury. There’s nothing he or I or anybody can do about it. It happens. Generally guys persevere, I look at Eeli Tolvanen last year … (the) guy was having a tough time in Nashville for whatever reason and gets claimed by Seattle and really took off. Does that happen for Filip if he goes somewhere? Maybe. It could happen here. I would like it to happen here. I still think there’s something there as a player.”

And that shouldn’t be a surprise. It was Yzerman, after all, who signed Zadina to a three-year contract last offseason, which still has two years remaining, at a cap hit of $1.825 million.

The general manager made sure to say he thinks Zadina is “a good young man” and that he doesn’t harbor animosity over Zadina’s request, but even in honoring the forward’s wishes, it seemed clear Yzerman’s desired outcome is that no team will claim Zadina, and he can continue his progression with the Red Wings.

“Am I thrilled? No, I’m not,” Yzerman said. “Am I happy to put him on waivers? No. I signed him to a three-year contract a year ago because I believed he was going to grow. And he signed that contract, and my expectation is that he wanted to grow with us. The reality now is, you wanted that contract, that contract may prevent you from getting that opportunity you’re looking for in another organization. That’s the reality for him. So best case scenario, and it’s not out of the realm of possibility, is he clears waivers, he comes to training camp, he plays well, he works his way up into the lineup and goes.”

The waiver side of things will become clear Tuesday, and even despite his contract, it is possible Zadina is claimed — perhaps by a rebuilding club like the Blackhawks or Coyotes. If so, it would be a tough way to lose a former top-10 pick, for nothing in return, though Yzerman’s comments make it sound like he’s been unsuccessful trying to trade him.

That outcome would open up a potential spot on the Red Wings’ roster, with newly re-signed Matt Luff one top candidate for the role. Luff was good as a swing forward between Detroit and Grand Rapids last year, and signed a two-way contract over the weekend. He would make more sense than a prospect like Marco Kasper, Carter Mazur or Elmer Söderblom — unless one of those three can claim a top-nine role to persuade Detroit they would play enough minutes.

The more interesting scenario, though, is if Zadina does clear waivers. Everything about the way he has handled early-career adversity to date suggests he would still show up to training camp looking to win the opportunity he’s looking for. But as Yzerman said, we’ll have to see where this all goes next.

Some more thoughts from Monday’s press conference:

Detroit’s free agent class

Yzerman began the press conference by talking about his many signings over the weekend. “Can’t say we addressed every need we have, but I’m sure we’ll talk about that here in the next little while, but addressed a lot of the needs we had,” he said.

The Red Wings brought in two goalies in James Reimer and Alex Lyon, a right-shot defenseman in Justin Holl, a power-play quarterback in Shayne Gostisbehere, a right-shot center in J.T. Compher, Daniel Sprong to boost scoring, and Christian Fischer to add a checking element down the lineup. So, yes, they were quite busy.

On Gostisbehere, Yzerman also pointed out that half of his five-on-five usage last season came on the right side, which is extra valuable to the left-heavy Red Wings. And it does make you think the newcomer may be the first option picked to play his off hand, over Ben Chiarot.

But the more interesting answers were about the forwards Detroit chose to sign. Compher, at five years and a $5.1 million AAV, was the biggest signing of the day, but it was notable that Yzerman said “on each player, very comfortable with the term of the all the contracts that we did.”

Yzerman noted that he felt Compher is a “very good athlete” and at 28, has been relatively healthy throughout his career. That sounds like it played into his willingness to extend five years of term, which he called “reasonable.”

“What I do like is his versatility as a hockey player,” Yzerman said. “He’s a natural centerman, he’s a right-shot centerman, which we don’t have at this time. We just drafted one in Nate, but we’ll give him time to develop into an NHLer. We’ve got a right-shot centerman who has played all three forward positions, who has played on the power play, does kill penalties. I think he’s a very versatile player for us, and again that ability to move around, to me, makes him very valuable.”

Yzerman has kept tabs on Compher dating to his draft year, when the Lightning took Adam Erne two spots ahead of him, and kept an even closer eye on him this year knowing he would be a free agent. Due to Colorado’s injuries and roster turnover, Compher was in a bigger role this season, and Yzerman felt he “thrived” in it — setting a career high with 52 points.

Compher’s goal totals the last two seasons have been 18 and 17 goals, so while he’s not the pure scorer many were hoping for, he does bring offense in addition to his versatility. And so does Sprong, who Yzerman had also taken note of, feeling he took steps in each of the last two seasons, most recently in Seattle, where he had 21 goals in 66 games.

He also pointed out Christian Fischer, one of the quieter signings, who he likes as a down-lineup checker and penalty killer, who brings size and the ability to play on a match-up line.

In general, those additions certainly make the Red Wings deeper.

With that being said…

Could the Red Wings still add a scorer?

After his line about not addressing every need, the obvious follow up was: what did Yzerman still want to address?

“Sleep would be one,” he quipped, before getting to the elephant in the room.

“Probably we’d like to score more,” he said. “How we do that — I think that’s the general consensus is the Red Wings need to score more. We need to keep the puck out of our net, we need to be better defensively, and we’d like our special teams to be better. I’m counting on, collectively, the entire group, the roster that we have now, to everybody chip in a little bit on the offense, which will help us score more.”

That part of the answer was to be expected, as internal progress has always been part of his vision for next year’s team. But it also doesn’t sound like the general manager has closed the door on chasing that scorer before the start of the season.

“Collectively I expect us to improve a little bit, probably still not where we’d all like it to be, so we’ll continue in the offseason here to see what, if anything — whether it be through some more free agents that are still out there, or even look at potential trades,” he said. “Generally after July 1 and 2, things start to settle down and teams re-evaluate where they are and what they need to do, and for various reasons might have to make a move. And we’ve all kind of settled in after July 1 and 2 kind of knowing now where we go from here, and we’ll explore some other opportunities, potentially.”

And then he came back to the idea later

“We would all love a couple of big-time scorers,” he added. “Hopefully we’ll get that. Again, we’ll continue to work at that, and how we go about it is a bit of a challenge.”

The last line there is the crux, as there isn’t really a painless option out there. This was the thinnest free agent class in recent memory, so the pool of players was limited there, and while the perceived trade market looks much more robust, those names also come with questions. Even for an Alex DeBrincat or a William Nylander, for example, there’s the double cost of trading for the player — likely using young players, draft picks or prospects — and then signing them to a near-free-agent-level contract right away.

That doesn’t mean the Red Wings can’t or shouldn’t pursue either, mind you, but in terms of what the “challenge” might be, it likely starts there — along with convincing another team to part with its scorers.

Certainly, if nothing else, it sounds like Yzerman shares the opinion of the public that the Red Wings still could use that big-time scoring piece this offseason.

But if they don’t come away with one, it was also interesting to hear his answer to a question about defending Stanley Cup Champion Vegas, and the depth that helped it succeed.

“I would throw Seattle into the mix there,” Yzerman volunteered. “What a tremendous season they had. We played that team, and I’m watching them, and they had a bunch of 20-goal scorers. Guys that broke out. Looked really good. The plan isn’t necessarily we’re going to score by committee, we need more goals. My expectation is we’ll get a couple more out of all these guys, and that will increase our scoring. I think we’re going to be a better defensive team, collectively. That will help us as well. Vegas won because they had great contributions up and down their lineup. They got important goals from a lot of different people. That’s ultimately how you win. If you rely on too few guys — injury, cold spells, whatever … generally the teams that are winning in the NHL, going a long way, they have depth.”

Again, that doesn’t mean Detroit won’t look to add a scorer. In fact, it sounds like that idea is still at the front of Yzerman’s mind. But it’s an acknowledgment that if he doesn’t, the Kraken are a model he’s thought of for how his team could still look to take a step.

Is Simon Edvinsson blocked?

One lingering question, after Detroit’s activity, was what it all meant for the Red Wings’ top prospects. And specifically, for young defenseman Simon Edvinsson, who spent most of last season in the AHL before getting a late-season look in Detroit.

Would adding Gostisbehere and Holl — giving Detroit a fairly obvious top six ahead of training camp — block the former sixth overall pick?

“We have high hopes for Simon,” Yzerman said. “And I’m not prepared to put him on the team in a top-six role, certainly I don’t think it’s beyond the (realm of) possibility that Simon comes in and has an outstanding training camp, an outstanding preseason, simply forces his way into the lineup. That’s what I think every one of us … would love to see, and if that happens, that’s great and we’ll figure it out. But at this stage to say we’re going to put him right in the top six, I’m not prepared to say that.”

The translation there is what we’ve come to expect from the Red Wings under Yzerman. While he hopes Edvinsson kicks the door down and takes a job, he is not clearing a path for him. And as Lucas Raymond showed two seasons ago, that doesn’t mean he can’t make it anyway. But it will take either a big effort, an injury, or both, to supplant one of those veterans.

(Photo of Filip Zadina: Jean-Yves Ahern / USA Today)