Our San Jose Sharks player reviews for the 2023-24 season continue with forward Filip Zadina. The Czech winger had a decidedly mixed season with the Sharks, managing some career-high points along with frustrating lows. Ultimately, Zadina’s campaign proved to be yet another example of his ability to demonstrate his potential while never fully living up to it.
Zadina’s Flashes Lead to Career-Best Achievements
When the Sharks signed Zadina to a one-year contract during the 2023 offseason, it made a lot of sense for them to take a flier on him. Zadina was looking to turn his career around, and San Jose’s status as a non-contending team meant that they could give him the space to work on his game.
In some ways, the partnership worked. Zadina scored a career-high 13 goals, including two multi-goal games. When he was at his best, he looked like one of the best skaters on the ice, playing with speed and determination. Beyond his offensive capabilities, he spent time on the Sharks’ penalty kill as well. Given how bad the Sharks were this season, it’s not hard to imagine him raising his play even further on a better team.
Zadina signed with the Sharks to reclaim the potential and talent that made him the sixth overall pick at the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. The scoring ability and versatility he showed at times this season proved that he has always had skill, and his numbers are simply a matter of accessing it.
Sharks Tried to Manage Zadina’s Disappearing Acts
For all the positives of Zadina’s season, there were unfortunately many shortcomings which made the ultimate result more disappointing. Although he had a number of games where he made a major impact, he had just as many where he was completely invisible. He struggled to be assertive on many occasions, especially during the first half of the season, resulting in several games in which it was easy to forget he was even in the lineup. Due to these challenges, the Sharks coaching staff faced difficult decisions in determining where to play him, placing him on both the first line and the fourth line at various points throughout the season.
Related: Sharks 2023-24 Player Grades: Mikael Granlund
Zadina is clearly capable of scoring more than 13 goals in a season, and can be a better defender as well. But the drive and motor needed to accomplish those tasks don’t always manifest, leaving him stuck with an uncertain future in the NHL.
Final Grade: C
In a season defined by inconsistency for Zadina, it’s only appropriate to give him a grade that suggests inconsistent work. At his best, he was one of the Sharks’ top offensive players, but he wasn’t at his best nearly often enough.
Perhaps the biggest bright spot for Zadina was his increased productivity towards the end of the season. He scored eight goals in his final 26 games after managing just five in his first 46 games. He found a more consistent rhythm in terms of line placement and reaped the benefits as a result.
But despite the improvement, his future path with the Sharks is unclear. He is a restricted free agent, meaning that San Jose holds a lot of power in deciding whether or not he will return. The Sharks have a lot of forward prospects who will deserve NHL time next season, and Zadina may be left out of the picture as a result. He might be able to find better results on a better team. But he and the Sharks could also determine that it’s in his best interest to serve as a slightly more experienced player on a roster full of youth, with a new coach who could provide the consistency he clearly desires. If nothing else, this season proved that San Jose is a better setting for him than his previous stop with the Detroit Red Wings. If he stays with the Sharks, he’ll likely improve as the team does.
Zadina’s 2023-24 season proved to be a microcosm of his career. He has all the makings of a capable top-six forward, at least on paper — and those tools do show up in game action at times. But he has never put together a full season in which he maximized his abilities, and now he ends another season where the gap between his talent and his statistics leaves him wondering what might have been.