Traverse City — With all these Red Wings prospects who are being talked about in breathless gasps — Moritz Seider, Jonatan Berggren and Lucas Raymond — you get the impression Filip Zadina might have some valuable advice to offer.
The wild expectations and challenges of playing the NHL can be overwhelming.
Zadina was the sixth overall pick in 2018. The now 21-year-old isn’t playing the role of wily veteran just yet.
“I’ve been in their shoes a year or two ago,” Zadina said Saturday during a Zoom interview. “I probably don’t have much to tell them. They’re all real good players and they just probably need to get the experience of playing in North American hockey. They’re skilled players and real good offensive players.
“They don’t need any advice from me.”
Several Wings are looking to rebound from sub-par seasons. Zadina might top the list.
His defensive game, his play without the puck, were effective and positive.
But offensively, the breakthrough many expected didn’t happen. Zadina only scored six goals, a far cry from his prolific junior hockey days.
He knows what he has to do to improve.
“Hold on to the puck, play with the puck, and go to the net,” Zadina said. “Force myself to shoot the puck a little more and believe in myself and my teammates on the ice that we’ll do (our) best to score goals.”
The 6-foot, 197-pound winger didn’t make many offseason changes. He worked with the same trainer he always has, and concentrated on getting stronger.
“To get quicker on the ice and trust the process,” Zadina said. “Since last year I took a step forward. (I’m) trying to be the same player, just a better player.”
With Jakub Vrana unavailable because of visa issues, Zadina has been skating with Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi on the Wings’ top line in training camp.
Zadina is projected to be somewhere on the Wings’ top two lines. But unless the production increases, he could see his ice time slip.
“We would love for him to take that step offensively,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “If he’s occupying a top-six role, he has to take that step offensively, otherwise somebody else will have an opportunity. That’s reality.”
Blashill would like to see Zadina become more of a consistent threat, finding open areas on the ice and getting his powerful shot off quicker.
General manager Steve Yzerman mentioned he hoped Zadina would take on a bigger role this season, along with many other young Wings’ players.
Zadina said with the deeper pool of offensive players — Vrana, Pius Suter, Nick Leddy, Seider, Raymond and Berggren — he will benefit and see more scoring chances.
“We have a lot of good offensive players, some real good defensive players, too,” Zadina said. “It’s only going help us get more scoring chances, more time in the offensive zone. We’ll see how it goes, but it’s huge for us if we’ve got those players on our team.”
Zadina is excited about playing with Larkin and Bertuzzi. He and Larkin have played sparingly on the same line, but the potential is promising.
“I would be real excited for sure,” Zadina said. “I’m doing the best I can to stick with them as long as I can. It depends if I play good hockey with them and we’ll be a line together at the start of the season. It’s still too far ahead. I’m doing the best I can to play hockey with (those) guys.”
Zadina is motivated to be the dynamic scorer draft analysts projected.
“I’m excited to get things going again and have fun on the ice,” Zadina said. “It’s going to be a great season.”
ted.kulfan@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @tkulfan