Agree with all your points. Logical reasoning.

Side note regarding top 6 role... if EDM were to acquire Zadina for whatever reason, I would love to see them try Hyman - McDavid- Zadina. All the attention would be on Hyman & McD, allowing Zadina more time and space to get his shot off. His Finishing % has been piss poor but I think part of that is low quality line mates. It would be very interesting to see if he could pull it off with higher quality guys.

I know EDM has tried this before with lower level players on Connor's wing without luck, but it's worth a shot if they acquired him anyway.

I'd suggest Draisaitl at centre over McDavid. Leon slows play down while attracting attention that tends to give linemates more time to get into scoring positions, and he can seemingly get passes through anywhere. Kostin looked pretty good when given that opportunity last season.
You have to make good decisions very quickly at both ends of the ice when playing with McDavid, and that can be tough on young players I think.
Pulling it off with higher quality guys means against higher quality guys too.

I think It takes a certain type of player with McDavid is maybe a better way to put it than lower level. A player that would be good with Larkin I'd expect to play well enough with McDavid though too.

How much has Zadina played with Larkin?

Good breakdown and I think a good assessment.

Unfortunately, Z hasn't really gotten time with Larkin since his sophomore year. And it went poorly. Zadina was trying to find a groove at that point, Bertuzzi (the line's written in LW) was hurt 75% of the year, and the actual LW was a revolving door of bottom 6 players (Brome, Gagner, Namestnikov, Mantha; Fabbri was the best of the bunch and Vrana found great success in limited time together). Therefore, all the attention was put on attacking Larkin and a very young Zadina. It didn't work out for these reasons (though Vrana/Z should've joined Larkin again and never did for unknown reasons) and they have thrown him mostly on the 4th line since. 😒

Zadina is tough to know, covid seasons and injuries not helping. It's hard to figure out what the Yzer plan is too. I was surprised when Detroit became sellers at the trade deadline, but it could mean opportunity for Zadina. The best place for him to play would be a young up and coming type team with lots of cap space I think, and that's pretty much what the Red Wings are now.

Yep. I don't necessarily want to move him, but I want to see him get ice time. If that isn't in Detroit, then hopefully we can get a decent return for him to allow him that opportunity.

Maybe Yzerman could put him in a package to a rebuilding team. They still have to put a team on the ice while the draft picks are developing. Try and send him to whatever team picks Eduard Sale, or the Sharks to play with Tomas Hertl

SJ & ANA could make sense. BOS might be a great destination with Pasta, Zacha, and potentially Krejci, especially with Zadina's relatively low cap hit.