Zadina might not be as polished as Hischier when it comes to playing a 200-foot, two-way game, but he can put up the points. He finished first among QMJHL rookies with 44 goals and 82 points in 57 games to win the Mike Bossy Trophy as the league's top professional prospect. Acadie-Bathurst defenseman Noah Dobson, No. 5 in Central Scouting's final ranking, and Drummondville center Joe Veleno, No. 8, were the other finalists for the award.
"I feel it will take a lot of patience and hard work to play in the NHL, since every young player has that same goal," Zadina said. "I would love to play in the NHL next season but we'll see what happens after the draft. Maybe I'll be drafted to a team with a lot of young players, but I'll do anything to play. I play hockey for one reason, and that's because I love it."
Zadina ranked second on Halifax with eight power-play goals. He finished tied for first with Arnaud Durandeau (New York Islanders) of Halifax with 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in nine QMJHL playoff games.
"[Zadina] has developed and taken his game to that next level," Troy Dumville of NHL Central Scouting said. "I hesitate with regards to comparing him to Hischier because Hischier was such an amazing, complete player. I'd equate Zadina more to Ehlers and Drouin-type players. Zadina continued to produce as the season went on so his game developed the same way as Hischier in that regard.
"I'm not saying Zadina is a one-dimensional player, but it's just in my 15 years of being around the QMJHL, Hischier was the most complete player I've ever seen."
Zadina (6-foot-0, 195 pounds), a left-handed shot, had seven goals and one assist in seven games for Czech Republic at the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship in Buffalo.
He's in the running to become the third wing from the Czech Republic to be selected in the top five at the NHL draft, joining Jaromir Jagr (1990, No. 5) and Pavel Brendl (1999, No. 4).
"It's an awesome feeling knowing I could be the third wing in the top five," Zadina said. "Still, where I'm selected doesn't really matter. No one remembers what pick you were six years after being drafted but they will remember the team you're playing for."
Zadina likely will have to make an impact in training camp to earn a shot on an NHL roster in September, but it certainly wouldn't surprise some.
"He's not just a hungry goal-scorer but he can make plays and is always in the guts of the action," Craig Button, TSN resident director of scouting, NHL analyst and former NHL general manager said. "He wants to get inside the dots and is not happy throwing pucks from the outside. He wants to get right in there and play where its hard and where you get rewarded. And when he gets that puck on his stick, he wants to bury it and I love that about him."
