Friday night’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets was the perfect petri dish to demonstrate why the time is now to cut the cord with Travis Zajac.
Almost all New Jersey Devils’ fans recognize the problem. Travis Zajac can’t score. A second line center with 1 point in 12 games is an abomination. Totally, utterly unacceptable. At best, he is a fourth line center now. But I’m not even sure he is that.
Those defending Zajac tend to roll out the argument that #19 is a complete player. They might be inclined to offer an opinion that he’s a 200 foot center. However, nothing could be further removed from reality. The truth is, Travis is just 200 feet bad. Practically every game.
Travis Zajac is a mere shell of his former self.
So, what were tonight’s cardinal sins against our Metropolitan Division foes? Let’s go through a few. Even after a long drive home from The Rock, the Winnipeg, Manitoba product has got my dander up!
Faceoffs. The so-called brilliant faceoff man won one-third of his draws this evening. A very bad night in that department. Yes, he’s over 50% on the season, but terrible tonight.
Shooting: Could Zajac have possibly got off a more pathetic shot than he did late in the second period from the faceoff circle to the left of Sergei Bobrovsky? I don’t think so. Right in the breadbasket, as usual. I don’t think that guy could find a corner in a room with eight walls. His shot is about as accurate as an Iraqi Scud Missile. A total disaster with the puck on his stick.
Penalty Killing: This is supposed to be Travis’ forte. The place where he truly adds value to the team. Well, that was not the case this evening. He had two opportunities to clear the puck on Andy Greene’s tripping call. The first chance in particular was a clear cut opportunity to ice the puck. But Travis just didn’t get the job done. The Blue Jackets ended up scoring the winning goal after Zajac’s foible. Just a horrible turn of events from the Devils’ perspective in tonight’s hockey game.
Everything Else: There were no other glaring mistakes, but, just as importantly, no other obvious strong plays. Just another blah-blah-blah nondescript effort from the Devils close-to-six million dollar man. Sadly, however, this is not the 1970’s, Travis Zajac is no Steve Austin, and Ray Shero is no Oscar Goldman. I guess six million dollars just isn’t worth what it used to be!
At this point, Travis Zajac is more of a liability to the Devils than a holding of Enron preferred stock in a Bernie Madoff managed portfolio. It’s time to cut the cord. Anyone — and might I nominate Mr. Zacha or Mr. Quenneville as two immediate options — is better than Zajac in a second line centerman role. One goal in twelve games, shoddy defense and no other redeeming qualities make him the 2017-18 version of Mike / Michael / Mike Cammalleri. Or, going back a bit further, the final days of Michael Ryder. Do we really need to see a second line center score 3 goals in more or less 40 games or so before it becomes obvious he’s not the man for the job? I think not.
Next: Adam Henrique is already gone
John Hynes is a great coach who preaches accountability and results. It’s time for him to practice what he preaches on this long-time Devil. Zajac just doesn’t have it anymore. Cut the cord. Eat the money. And please do so quickly. This team is too good to allow a holdover player like Zajac to bring them down.
As Spike Lee might say, let’s hope the Devils do the right thing!