Filip Zadina's inconsistency masks the success he has started to find with San Jose

Filip Zadina has had a good run of games for the Sharks. After producing two goals and two assists for four points in the game in Calgary, the Czech forward is probably enjoying his best form as a member of the San Jose Sharks. That is the kind of thing he wanted to prove he was capable of when he walked away from all that money in Detroit to sign with the Sharks last summer. He was excellent in that game and had been doing many things right all season.

Where the issue comes for Zadina is that he is a winger. As a pending restricted free agent, a team may look at him and think he could be a long-term fit as a deadline option. Still, due to players like William Eklund, Anthony Duclair, Fabian Zetterlund, Alexander Barabanov, and so forth, he's not gotten the chances he would have liked. In fact, I don't think he's gotten to play with any of the Sharks' three best centers.

Zadina's known for being one of the more promising players on the roster in terms of potential. He was the sixth overall pick back in the 2018 NHL entry draft. But that consistency to be a dominant player at the top level has been absent from his game for the entirety of his NHL career. It means that while he's capable of showing flashes of brilliance, he rarely strings together stretches of being a dominant force on the ice for the San Jose Sharks.

He's a player that leaves you wanting more. He will infuriate you to no end. Still, the Pardubice, Czechia native, has seven goals and ten helpers for 17 points in 49 games this season. While that isn't elite production, it's only seven points back of his career high. Zadina has shown flashes of being the dominant force he was expected to be, but he needs to find a way to bring that to every game. He needs to stop the disappearing act. Even if he doesn't get on the scoresheet, do something else. Find a way to be involved in the game. He has too much talent to sit outside watching everyone else do the work.

So, should the Sharks be trying to move him at the deadline, let him walk in the summer, or retain the right to the Czech forward? I'd like to see him stay. He's young enough to be a reclamation project for the Sharks, who may yet bring the most out of this player. As the team improves, he could learn from guys like Tomas Hertl and pass that veteran leadership onto the new young core. But that is a decision for Mike Grier and Zadina's agent.