During the Red and White Game, Zadina played on a line with Nielsen and Erne. At one point during the 3-on-3 portion of the second period, Zadina had an excellent chance to score while going to the net.
"It just came out from the play," Zadina said. "I saw the puck, so I wanted to go to the net and create some chances. Probably it's going to be my game, go more to the net and I'll be more productive in front of the net."
Although he did not get the goal, Zadina will have plenty of chances to do so during the exhibition season.
"He's got to score. He's a goal scorer," Blashill said. "Now he can't do it cheating. If you cheat for offense you don't have any chance to win so you got to be able to score without cheating. I don't want to put undue pressure on him. You don't have to score every game but you gotta have opportunities to score every game and then you gotta score. That's what he does best. He'll have to do that while balancing being a complete player.
"If I were to say to him what would drive his performance, 40 percent of the NHL goals get scored in that little square we have drawn on the ice. I think he can score from that other square which is 80 percent of the goals get scored but he needs to get to the 40 percent in order to really score. I talked about that with Mantha a couple years ago on net-front power play, that's where easy goals are. So get to that area, whether it's by dragging it in yourself or most likely, getting there on rebounds and stuff like that while still being a complete player."
Zadina changed his offseason routine by remaining in metro Detroit throughout the summer to work out with the other prospects.
"I stayed in Detroit and did way more different things than I was used to," Zadina said. "I think it helped me a lot to stay here, focus just on myself and be ready for the season."
With a year in the American Hockey League under his belt and nine games with the Wings, Zadina gained invaluable experience that he expects to translate on the ice this coming season, whether that is back in Grand Rapids or in Detroit.
"The game is going to be a little bit slower for me this year because I know what it's going to like," Zadina said. "It's about the space I guess but it's about the patience. Then if you get a puck, you just gotta skate and that's it I guess. Be smart and a good skater and I think the game will be easier."
DID NOT PLAY: Among those who did not play in the Red and White Game were forwards Dylan Larkin and Darren Helm, plus defenseman Mike Green.
"I think we have a whole bunch of guys that have little tweaks and whatnot, the normal stuff that comes with going 100 miles an hour into training camp so we'll have to just adjust our practices accordingly," Blashill said.
However, Green is fully recovered from the virus that kept him out at the beginning and end of last season.
"Green has had no ill effect from last year's virus so I think that's a great thing for him," Blashill said. "He said he felt great as he started to really train hard this summer and felt great."
Athanasiou left after the first 25-minute period, which Blashill also attributed to being a tweak as opposed to anything believed to be long-term.
ROSTER MOVES: Following the Red and White Game, the Wings announced they had released nine players from their amateur tryouts: forwards Mathieu Bizier, Thomas Casey, Cody Morgan, Owen Robinson and Chad Yetman; defensemen Marc-Olivier Duquette and Owen Lalonde; and goaltenders Anthony Popovich and Sean Romeo.
The Wings now have 58 players on their training camp roster.