Detroit Red Wings’ Filip Zadina month-to-month with injury after blocking shot

It appears Detroit Red Wings winger Filip Zadina won’t be returning to the lineup anytime soon, as his injury is “a matter of months” according to Wings head coach Derek Lalonde.

Zadina suffered the injury in Saturday afternoon’s game against the New York Islanders after he was hit in the leg with a shot. Zadina wasn’t in the lineup for Sunday evening’s game against the New York Rangers. There is currently no official word on what the specifics of the injury are, or a specific timeline of recovery, just that he’ll be out months, not weeks.

Austin Czarnik subbed in for Zadina in the lineup for Sunday’s game, with no points in 12:45 of ice time.

It’s a big blow to what’s been a nightmare start to Zadina’s season, as he’s been held off the scoresheet in all nine games he’s played this season.

The sixth overall pick in 2018 has struggled so far in his NHL career to live up to the hype, with career highs of just 10 goals and 24 points in four full seasons so far, both coming in the 74 games he played in 2021-22.

The soon-to-be 23 year old is locked in for the next three seasons in Detroit, with a $1.825 million cap hit. He’ll be a restricted free agent when the deal expires in 2025.

Zadina joins a constantly growing list of injured players for the Wings in the early going of the season, as forwards Tyler Bertuzzi & Robby Fabbri and defensemen Jake Walman & Mark Pysyk are also currently on injured reserve at the moment.

Those injuries haven’t set the team back so far, as the Wings continue their surprising start with a 7-3-2 record, putting them in second in the Atlantic division. They also find themselves on a three game winning streak after beating the Washington Capitals, Islanders, and Rangers in a stretch of three games in four days.