BSH 2018 Community Draft Board, No. 3: Filip Zadina

The race for the third spot on our community board was even more one-sided than the race for second, as a clear favorite emerged from the start and coasted to pick up 74 percent of the votes out there. That clear favorite happens to be the guy who you’ll find at No. 3 on most draft boards out there: Filip Zadina, a Czech winger who just wrapped up his first season in the QMJHL.

BSH 2018 Community Draft Board, No. 3: Filip Zadina

Position / Team: RW / Halifax Mooseheads, QMJHL
2017-18 Statistics: 44 G, 38 A in 57 GP
Size: 6’0”, 195

Pre-draft rankings

No. 3 (NA Skaters) by NHL Central Scouting
No. 3 by Future Considerations
No. 3 by ISS Hockey
No. 2 by Pronman/The Athletic (Midseason)

What’s there to like?

Who’s gonna score a hockey goal? This guy. Few players in this draft, if any, have the kind of on-puck ability that Zadina has. His hands and his shot are both high-end, allowing him to create his own scoring opportunities. Zadina’s a true sniper that’s a threat every time he touches the ice. He’s absolutely a shoot-first player: he’s tallied at least as many goals as assists in every organized season of hockey that he’s played since 2014-15, and (via prospect-stats.com) was fifth among regular QMJHL forwards last season in shots on goal per game (and first among first-time draft-eligible forwards). He wasn’t too bad at actually scoring goals, either; Zadina was fourth among all forwards in the Q in goals per game, quite impressive for a player who was 17 years old when the season started.

The goal-scoring ability is the highlight of Zadina’s profile, but it’s not the only thing he brings to the table. He combines good skating ability with a relentless, aggressive playing style, giving his offensive gifts even more chances to shine through. Here’s a highlight video. There’s a lot to enjoy in here, I promise.

What’s not to like?

Fairly little. The Athletic’s Corey Pronman noted in his midseason grades that Zadina’s “off the puck play isn’t perfect”. That’s about as much negative as you’ll find said about him (and even Pronman noted in that same sentence that Zadina can “be a competent penalty killer and a shorthanded threat”). Everywhere you look, he’s praised for being a very well-rounded player.

How would he fit in the Flyers’ system?

Zadina would immediately become the best forward prospect in the Flyers’ system, by a fairly comfortable margin (with due respect to Morgan Frost), and he likely wouldn’t be a “prospect” for very long. Given the fact that Ron Hextall has singled out “scoring winger” as a need for the Flyers, Zadina would have a pretty strong chance at making the Flyers’ roster right out of camp this year, and one could reasonably pencil him in on the wing in the top-6 with this team for many, many years to come. He’d be a no-question part of the “future core” that the likes of Nolan Patrick, Ivan Provorov, and Travis Konecny are forming, and a player who can create his own chances like Zadina is something we all know the Flyers could use.

Could the Flyers actually get him?

Almost certainly not. I guess there’s a case to be made that Montreal (the current owners of the third overall pick), with an aging and expensive goalie and an aging and expensive cornerstone defenseman, could try and deal the pick for immediate help, but it’s extremely rare for picks this high to get dealt. It’d take a bit of a tumble on draft night for Zadina to be in range where the Flyers could possibly make a move up the ranks for him.

We’ll stick with the same rankings from last time around to decide No. 4. New names coming next time. Enjoy.

2018 BSH Community Draft Board

1. Rasmus Dahlin — D, Frolunda (SHL) (no vote)
2. Andrei Svechnikov — RW, Barrie (OHL) (60% of the vote)
3. Filip Zadina — RW, Halifax (QMJHL) (74%)
4. ???

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Please use your vote below to answer the following question: If all of the players listed were available when the Flyers were on the clock, who would you want them to pick?

Who should be No. 4 on the 2018 BSH Community Draft Board?