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Red Wings pick Filip Zadina has a message to teams that passed on him

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The Detroit Red Wings selected Filip Zadina with no. 6 overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft.

DALLAS — Call it swagger or confidence, Filip Zadina has it and he has a message for the Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators and Arizona Coyotes, the three teams that passed him over before he went to the Detroit Red Wings sixth overall in the 2018 NHL Draft.

“I’m telling my agent if they will pass on me, I will fill their net with the puck,” Zadina said. “Yeah, it’s just I want to prove [to] them that they have done, like, bad decision. But I’m so glad that I am in Detroit right now, so I just want to prove to Detroit that they have got a pretty good decision.”

Zadina, who led the QMJHL’s Halifax Mooseheads in goals with 44 goals and recorded 82 points, saw heavy speculation linking him to Montreal at No. 3 and Ottawa at No. 4, but the Canadiens decided on Finnish center Jesperi Kotkaniemi and the Senators took winger Brady Tkachuk from Boston University. The Coyotes selected center Barrett Hayton out of Sault Ste. Marie.

“It’s going to be good games for me and I’m excited for it, sure,” Zadina said about facing those teams in the future.

Zadina will have every opportunity to make the Red Wings next season given the state of the franchise. Two playoff-less seasons has the franchise in rebuilding mode and allowing him to develop immediately at the NHL level could go a long way to seeing him become an integral part of a turnaround.

“A deft and agile skater, he exhibits explosive mobility both up and down the ice,” according to Elite Prospects, Zadina is eager to prove his worth to Red Wings fans and hopes his play can one day equal that of Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lighting, whom he models his game after.

Despite some nerves, Zadina wasn’t too disappointed with ending up No. 6 overall. He’s just pleased his team is the Red Wings.

“I don’t want to call it that I fall to sixth. It’s a draft and I am in Detroit, so I don’t care what position I’m in,” he said. “I’m a Detroit player. I just want to prove to Detroit that they have done a pretty good decision, so I’m just glad that I could be here.”

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Sean Leahy is a writer forPro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line atphtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.