SAN JOSE – San Jose Sharks forward Filip Zadina is considered day to day with an upper-body injury and will miss Saturday’s game against the Vancouver Canucks, coach David Quinn said.
Zadina did not play the final two periods of Friday’s game with the Montreal Canadiens, a 3-2 shootout loss for the Sharks, with Quinn saying after the game that the winger’s upper body issue “had been bothering him and it just acted up.”
Zadina, 23, was signed by the Sharks to a one-year, $1.1 million deal in July after he and the Detroit Red Wings, who drafted him sixth overall in 2018, mutually agreed to terminate his previous contract.
Seeking a fresh start with another team, Zadina left behind $4.56 million in actual money he was owed to become a free agent. Feeling he would get that opportunity under Quinn, he joined the Sharks on a short-term contract and will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights after the season.
Prior to Friday’s game, Zadina had three goals and two assists and was averaging 14:00 of ice time per game. With the Sharks having won just three of their first 20 games, most players have unsightly plus-minus ratings, with Zadina’s -19 mark the worst among the team’s forwards before Saturday.
“Under the circumstances, he’s done a really good job,” Quinn said of Zadina before Saturday’s game. “I think every player is trying to find out what they’re going to be in the National Hockey League. No matter how old you are, as your career goes on from year to year, you’re trying to figure out who you’re going to be at this level and what’s going to allow you to have a long, successful career. And I think at his age he’s still figuring that out.
“The one thing that you know, you’re going to get an honest effort out of him. He’s incredibly coachable.”
Kevin Labanc will take Zadina’s spot in the lineup. Labanc missed games Wednesday and Friday after he was injured in the game against the Canucks on Monday when he was slew-footed by forward Nils Hoglander. Labanc has two assists in 13 games this season.
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