Travis Zajac’s Return Is A Boon To The New Jersey Devils. Now The Club Needs to Determine The Best Way To Deploy Their Long-Time Stalwart
It was great to see Travis Zajac‘s return to the fold last night at the ACC. Zajac looked surprisingly solid considering his long layoff. The Winnipeg native was strong on the puck, fast through the neutral zone and physical along the boards. He also played well defensively. Not that any of this is unexpected. Zajac has always been a great two-way center for the Devils featuring a strong 200 foot game, an excellent faceoff percentage, above average on the kill and a player known for making solid decisions with the puck.
We saw all of that in Travis Zajac’s return against Toronto, which is one very small part of the reason it was a low scoring affair (the goaltending of course being infinitely more influential).
Travis Zajac is a solid NHL Top-9 forward. The key is slotting him into the appropriate role.
That being said, the scoreless-for-all-but-two-seconds affair was a classic “these are the best-of-time and the worst-of-times” representation of the Devils’ longest tenured player.
Zajac’s fairly pedestrian hands and offensive skill, to put it mildly, were on full display a couple of times in the match against the NHL’s highest scoring squad. Exhibit 1 occurred when Travis failed to convert on a great set-up on the doorstep of Frederik Andersen’s crease during regulation time. The second example of this was seen in overtime, when 25 seconds into the session Zajac’s slapshot from the high slot, coming from a great setup from Taylor Hall, was pounded directly into the pads of the Toronto netminder.
I’m sorry. I should be able to contain myself, but I can’t. “Glorious Opportunities” sitting on the blade of Zajac, sadly, all too often end up in the midsection of the opposing goalie. It is as if Travis couldn’t find a corner if he was in the middle of Midtown Manhattan. It’s an all-too-familiar sight to all loyal Devils’ fans. And that, my friends, is exactly why #19 is not a first-line center.
A C1 (top line center) needs silky smooth hands. He should have the creativity and vision to set up teammates. And he absolutely needs to be able to put away good opportunities to score. This is a position calling for one of the best offensive forwards on your team. Needs to be a 20+ goal player.
That’s just not Zajac. Good player, yes. Great teammate, totally agree. But he’s a guy with tons of 11-18 goal seasons. Way too many for a player who has been on a top line and a member of the power play season after season after season.
So, with all due respect, I think the time has come to see Travis Zajac for what he is. A good C2. An even better C3. Do I want him out there defending against the opposition’s top line? Absolutely. Do I want him taking important third period faceoffs when the Devils are defending a lead? For sure.
But do I want #19 starting an overtime period with Taylor Hall? Not really. Give me #21, #63 or #13 please. And, similarly, I don’t like deploying Zajac on the power play under any circumstance, but especially not in overtime. There are too many other talented forwards on the club who can do a better job in that role.
To summarize — I, like most Devils’ fans — should be really happy about Travis Zajac’s return. He’s a tremendous addition to the club. But doses of #19 are somewhat like powerful narcotics. They must be very carefully administered. A healthy dose of Zajac on the kill, on a checking line and the other elements of a C2/C3 role all have great medicinal value and will, without a doubt, improve the health of the Devils. But TZ on the power play or in a C1 role centering Hall and Palmieri, well, those indications have some serious side effects. They just aren’t FDA approved and they will probably make some Devils’ fans feel a bit sick whenever they occur.
Let’s hope Zajac is used in all the right places going forward.