New Jersey Devils: Pavel Zacha Needs To Step Up After Benching
By Nick Villano
The New Jersey Devils beat the New York Rangers despite going three lines for most of the second half of the game. One player, Pavel Zacha, needs to react well to his benching.
New Jersey Devils head coach John Hynes made a controversial decision Saturday night, sitting Pavel Zacha, Marcus Johansson and Jimmy Hayes for the entire second half of the game. It was a peculiar decision that had many asking what the heck happened.
Hynes spoke to the media after the game, and didn’t really give a specific reason why he decided to keep the three players off the ice.
"“Just thought tonight it was what was best for the team. Where we’re at, what we were doing, it was just a decision that we made that felt was going to be best for the group.” -John Hynes"
Pavel Zacha is the name that needs to learn the most from the benching. He was given the top-line center spot with the injury to Travis Zajac. He was expected to step up the most with the Devils top guy missing four months. Notably, that hasn’t happened.
Zacha scored two goals against Toronto last week in a dominating performance. In the four other games, he has zero points. Being between Taylor Hall and Kyle Palmieri should produce points on its own, especially with the offense rolling like it is. Zacha has been hit and miss, and hopefully some time to think on the bench will do him good.
He has been better at his worst feature; the faceoff circle. Zacha was a paltry 40.3 percent last year. Luckily, he raised that to 50.8 percent in the first five games this season.
Zacha told Chris Ryan with NJ.com that he spoke with Hynes, and he understands what’s expected of him.
"“I’m happy there was some communication so I know why I hadn’t played there. It doesn’t matter, we won there against the Rangers, so it was a great feeling even though I didn’t get a chance to play too much.”"
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Zacha needs to step up. It’s time for him to prove his worth. When he was drafted back in 2013, he was one of the best players to come out. Since then, he’s been pretty disappointing. It’s way too early to panic, but the kid does need something to show he’s going to be the player his talent suggests. After winning the top-line center job, Devils fans hoped he was ready to make the jump into a very good young center. There is still some work to do.
What’s great is it’s just October 17th. There are still 77 games left in the season, which makes Hynes’ decision defensible. He wants to nip it in the butt before it becomes a real problem. Thankfully, Zacha seems to understand that, and knows what to do to make sure it doesn’t happen again. It all starts tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning.