New Jersey Devils: Pavel Zacha Has One More Year To Prove Himself

The New Jersey Devils still have plenty of questions to answer going into next season. Possibly the most important is what’s going to become of Pavel Zacha.

What a season it was from the New Jersey Devils. This team fought from day one, and held onto a playoff spot every single game for an 82 game season. Taylor Hall was an MVP candidate, and is the favorite to win the award. Nico Hischier, Blake Coleman and Will Butcher became fan favorites in their rookie season. It was mostly great to be a Devils fan this season.

All these positive storylines swept one negative under the rug. We expected a lot more from Pavel Zacha this season, and he did not deliver.

In 69 games this season, he scored a paltry 25 points. He was hesitant on his shot, and didn’t always make the right decisions. Then, he went scoreless in their playoff series against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Zacha said during his postseason interview that he was told what he has to do, now he just has to go do it. That shows the Devils still have faith he will break out, but there’s some work to be done on his end.

This isn’t to say that Zacha didn’t show glimpses he could be a very good center one day, but he was more inconsistent than not.

It doesn’t help that Brock Boesser and Matthew Barzal, two players who were on the board when the Devils picked Zacha in the 2015 NHL Draft, are two of the top three Calder Trophy candidates. Seeing the possibilities of those forwards make Devils fans wonder what could have been.

Obviously, hindsight is always 20/20 when it comes to the draft. Every team outside of Edmonton and Buffalo would like to have another shot to redraft their picks. We have to move on from that, and take Zacha for what he is.

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The real question is, what is he? Zacha literally just turned 21 years old. He’s been legal to drink for two weeks. He has time to make something of his career. However, he may be running out of time to do it as a New Jersey Devils player.

The Devils may look to upgrade their second-line center this offseason, which would force Zacha to play the wing full time. Nico Hischier, Travis Zajac and Brian Boyle aren’t playing any other position next season. Also, all three of them are better at setting up their teammates. Zacha can continue to improve and take his spot back, but it will be hard to do if there are four legitimate centers already on the team.

Also, Zacha has one more year left on his contract. Sure, he only becomes a restricted free agent next offseason, but it still forces the team to put a number on Zacha’s worth.

The fact of the matter is Zacha needs to score more. He had one more point from his first full season to his second. 25 points is what the Devils expect from their fourth-line center. Zacha needs to get closer to 50. If he doesn’t show he can do that next season, the Devils may move him for something. Zacha has all the intangibles, but it’s time for him to turn it into production.