Steve Yzerman delivers parting message to Filip Zadina

Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman attempted to facilitate a trade for disgruntled former 1st round draft pick Filip Zadina, but there were no takers. He even waived Zadina to allow any of the other 31 NHL clubs to pick him up without having to give up any assets of their own. Again, no takers. 

The relationship between Zadina and the Red Wings officially came to a close earlier this week when he was placed on waivers for the expressed purpose of having his contract terminated. He became a free-agent and was free to sign with any other NHL club. 

That's when Mike Grier and the San Jose Sharks came calling, signing Zadina for one season with a reported cap hit of $1.1 million.

Yzerman admitted that he was impressed by Zadina's willingness to leave the millions that remained on the two years left on the contract he signed last year on the table and try and go elsewhere to prove he can hack it at the NHL level. 

"That’s a positive," Yzerman said Monday. "I go back to, when we signed Filip a year ago, the feeling was he’s going to get better and continue to play a bigger role. Mostly through injury this year, that didn’t happen. I’d rather have a $1.8 million in cap space than potentially a player playing in the AHL. So, Filip wanted a fresh start. He’s able to do that. Good for him. And we’re able to put the not only the cap space but the actual dollars into other things."

"We discussed it, I brought it up with Filip earlier in the summer, discussed it with his agent a little bit," Yzernan said. "Ultimately if he wanted a fresh start — I tried to trade him, we put him on waivers, just couldn’t move him. This is the only way to get a fresh start. 

"I really respect him for making this decision. He’s not a dumb person. He knows what he’s given up. But his career is more important than the dollars and I wish him well, I really do. My experience with him was always good. He’s a nice young man, he’s worked hard, it just hasn’t worked out. I wish him good luck somewhere else."

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