In Red Wings Land

Why Filip Zadina isn’t playing on Red Wings’ top line | MLive

“Right now, I got (Robby Fabbri) there; Fabbs has played pretty good,” Blashill said. “I can’t say Zadina has outplayed Fabbri. I think you got to make sure you do it on merit. If he’s outplayed him, great. But that’s not what’s happened so far.

“I think Filip’s come in and done a nice job. He’s played solid hockey. If he is in a position where he’s dominating and says that I’m better than the wingers that are up there, then that’s awesome, then he wins the spot. I think we’d all be excited about that.”

Listen... I totally agree with Prashanth, Kyle and J.J.’s take on WIIM Radio that Filip Zadina playing 10 minutes a night in the NHL with guys like Frans Nielsen and Darren Helm is better than 20 minutes in the AHL with lesser talented players. Hell, I even agree with Jeff Blashill that Fabbri has played well and deserves a spot at the top of the lineup.

But c’mon man! Give us the shiny new toy playing on the Red Wings first line with our top guys!

This season has been a huge freakin’ drag for a lot of us fans that pay super close attention and love this team. Damnit, I just want to see our super talented, young goal scorer put in the most exciting situation possible and I want it now.

Around the League

Wysh List: Coaches punching players is bad! | ESPN

Leino retired in 2015 and is now CEO of a successful clothing brand in Finland called Billebeino. He has watched from afar as this reckoning of coaches’ behavior has happened in the NHL, from Peters to Crawford to the accusations of mental abuse against Mike Babcock, who was Leino’s first coach in the NHL with the Detroit Red Wings. And he has thought a lot about what was seen as acceptable then, and how we view it now.

”Back in the day, almost every coach I played for was doing or saying stuff that’s not appropriate in a normal work environment. It happened every day. It was part of the culture. I guess it was considered normal,” he said. “It’s hard to put the blame on just few of the coaches or certain moments when it happened. Times have changed, and people have changed.”

This is a Ville Leino story that I did not know about.