Filip Zadina was mired by injury this season, but when health his production was still very low. Despite this his off-puck game was phenomenal, leading the Red Wings in xGF%. Is that enough to give him a passing grade? Olli Maatta was doing it all the first half of the year, earning himself an extension mid-season. But after recuperating form pneumonia, he just wasn’t the same. And finally, Dominik Kubalik was scoring machine for the first 25 games of the year, but became nearly invisible for the last 56. Despite this he still managed to put up 45 points, how much will the second half hurt is grade? #lgrw
Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LORedWings?sid=YouTube
Locked On NHL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Prospects & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNHL
#NHL #RedWings #Detroit #detroitredwings
Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!
Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase.
ebay Motors
For parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit. eBay Motors dot com. Let’s ride. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.
Built Bar
Built Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.
Athletic Greens
To make it easy, Athletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit athleticgreens.com/NHLNETWORK
FanDuel
Make Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.
FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)
18 Comments
We ball
If Kubi can come in and start hot again. Would be huge for the wings to get off on a strong start. If he ends next year with around 25 goals we are living life
We do, ball.
Not sure you should expect Zadina to be a big goal scorer ever, I wouldn't mind seeing him on the penalty kill though, especially if they don't re sign Suter.
I think we should adjust or expectation for Zadina. Maybe 4th line, shut down line like the one that Maltby and Draper used to be on would be more fitting and also penalty kill. If they give him a chance at those roles and he fails, it just may be time to punt? Just don't think he will ever be the scorer that we hoped for.
I feel that Lalonde had this new defence system which i agree that needed to be done, i just dont think how ALL the time (game to game) that he changed ALL forward lines so much it made it hard for the players to gain the chemistry/reading each other, etc. Next year if he fixes that we should see our offence pick up to at most the the middle, to upper middle of the NHL rankings. Just my observation
You seem to be missing a point with Määtä. Part of his problems late in season were his pairings. Constantly changing . I say he earned a B.
Zadina = vastly overrated. Passing on Hughes …. what a blunder.
Bro …. Larkin is not S tier. In fact he's the perfect example or an A tier but not quite S tier player.
Quinn Hughes (D), selected after Zadina has 241 NHL points. Holland was picking forwards the same way the Lions would pick wide outs.
Best case for Zadina …. Playing on a line with Veleno and Rasmussen as a shutdown 3rd line.
If zadina finds himself the extra man out of camp again, he should be traded if not on draft night. It’s been such a huge disappointment from him granted being injured. It is what it is at this point and I’d rather have mazur up than zadina at this point.
Hey guys great show I loved it. Also just want to say this about zadina. My personal grade is an F but do agree on a D rating overall. Reason I say that is because that kid has not lived up to anything he was drafted for. That said, I will also say if you changed the aspect of his game to defensive fourth line and view it similar to the grind line from Days of old then it's closer to b. I say that because defensively he's really good text the next time he signs if that's the case where he's getting paid for his line salary like at most 2 million maybe 3 then I would say keep him because I can see him being more like a defensive powerhouse to shut down lines much like draper and the rest back in the day. But he also has a little bit of an offensive side every so often but if you can't and you can't find him in that role then I said a numerous times before trade him while his value still has value because of Stevie holds on to him too long he's never going to get anything worth while for him whereas he can still get something for him much like bert And his injury prone career. Other than that I agree with the gradings so far lol. Keep doing you as you do lol Thanks for being awesome and stay frosty. Also sorry for always spitting negs on zadina but this he can make a goal thing is beyond rediculous lol. We should have kept Jakob lol
First of all – good selection of players who are grades technically about the same level.
Zadina 100% same opinion C- / D+. I love his defensive play, but what bothers me is his use of chances. I don't know if he thinks too much or is scared, but some chances he had he fucked up himself. I hope he stays healthy next season and dominates the third line.
Maatta deserves a C for me for his season. He had a lot of ups and downs. I would have liked to see him, after the first 10-15 games, with Seider for a few games & also think he would have been a good addition with his experience.
Kubalik had a sick start to the season & got progressively "weaker" after that. If he plays more consistently next year he will be an important player. But seen over the whole season, I would give him a C+.
Even though Kuby slowed down offensively, I thought he got better defensively as the year went on. Maybe it was a trade off and what the coaching staff wanted him to focus on. I think there needs to be a study done on Chiarot's impact on his defensive partners, because there's a clear negative correlation for both hard numbers and analytic metrics for Seider, Hronek, and Maatta… it's actually kind of wild if you look at it. Maatta/Chiarot ended up with the worst xGF% of any Wings D pairing with at least 150 minutes played together and there was literally ONE goal scored while they were on the ice together (234 minutes total).
Zadina: C+. Maybe folks won't agree with it, but let's face it. I didn't have top line expectations for the man. He's a solid checking line forward, so I don't even look at it by points scored — even if that's what our rationale for drafting him at 6th was in the first place.
Maatta: B-: One could also argue C+ and not be wrong, However, I do think there might be other reasons why his +/- slipped the way it did. I'm happy we have him.
Kubalik: A-. Very solid pickup for Stevie last offseason, but his production did fall off the side of a building. Granted, I didn't expect amazing things from him to begin with, but it does concern me a little that he did fall off the way he did.
For all three of these players specifically, and the team in general, I think what should be done too is look at what changed on their pairings or lines. Who played with Maatta in the first 25 vs the rest of the year? Was Kubalik's production happening because of his linemates, or despite them? These could all impact their performance, in my view.
I'm sorry but I don't get you guys. I never heard anyone really complain about Maatta in 2023. Maybe he was struggling a little more. But the whole team was. He wasn't noticeably bad, come on.
On the other hand, all you looked at with Kubalik was his stats? Kubalik was terrible in basically every area other than points, and even that wasn't reliable. Look at him on the final play of the final game, turning the puck over in a terrible way. That's what he offers outside the defensive zone. And even in the offensive, he's not a game breaker. How many one timers did he fan on?
And when it comes to Zadina, why wouldn't you adjust your expectations when a guy has those injuries? Don't pro-rate his stats for an 82 game season, because if he played all 82 games that would mean he was healthy and probably would have produced a little more. I'm disappointed in his development like anyone, but this season was different.
Zadina = too fragile for the NHL…time to move on; Maatta makes way too many mental mistakes IMO = 3rd pair at best; Kuby doesn't fit the team going forward = poor skater. There is a reason this roster was not playoff worthy