Filip Zadina signs two-year deal with HC Davos

A former top NHL prospect is heading overseas.

On Monday, HC Davos of the National League, the top league in Switzerland, announced they have signed forward Filip Zadina to a two-year contract.

Zadina heads to Switzerland after spending the last six seasons in the NHL, playing with both the Detroit Red Wings and San Jose Sharks. The Czechia product played for San Jose in the 2023-24 season, scoring 13 goals and 10 assists in 72 games, as the Sharks went on to post the worst record in the league.

The 24-year-old was at one point one of the more highly-touted prospects. After playing one year in the Czech Extraliga in 2016-17, the same season he won the gold medal at the Gretzky Hlinka Cup, Zadina came to North America, joining the Halifax Mooseheads of the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League. He immediately jumped onto NHL teams’ radars, leading to the Red Wings taking him sixth overall in the 2018 NHL Draft.

However, after turning pro 2018, things didn’t quite pan out for Zadina as many had hoped. Across five seasons in the NHL, he failed to hit the 20-point mark (granted, two seasons were shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic). Some believe Zadina was never able to adjust to the speed and physicality of the higher leagues, and with that, the scoring prowess he showed in junior hockey never materialized in the pros.

After an injury-riddled and underwhelming 2022-23 season, the Red Wings bought out his contract, which had two years left on it. That led to Zadina finding a home with the Sharks for at least one season.

In 262 NHL games, he scored 41 goals and 50 assists for 91 points, never appearing in a Stanley Cup Playoff game.

Zadina joins a Davos team that has loads of talent, and is gearing up for a big season. The reigning Spengler Cup champions have a few NHL prospects on their roster, along with another former NHLer in Joakim Nordstrom and former Calgary Hitmen star, Adam Tambellini.