New Jersey Devils: Travis Zajac’s Ceiling On Second Line
By Nick Villano
New Jersey Devils center Travis Zajac was supposed to be the team’s top center before he went down with a major injury. Could he find a way to make it back on the Devils second line?
There are times on this blog where I write things where I know that some backlash is coming. This, my friends, is one of those articles. I wanted to look at whether the New Jersey Devils should go into next season with Travis Zajac as the team’s second-line center.
Last season, Zajac was expected to start the season between Taylor Hall and Kyle Palmieri on the first line. He wasn’t the traditional first-line center, but he was effective in his own way. He won’t scored 90 points, or even hit 20 goals anymore, but he plays very good defense and can still hit the set-up pass.
Despite all that, he’s nowhere near a first-line center when the team has Nico Hischier. Hischier, despite being a teenager, is already a 50 point player. Zajac hasn’t hit 50 points since 2010.
Now that we have it very clearly established that Zajac has no right to a first line spot, now we can move on.
The Devils really don’t have a player who’s locked in to the second-line center position. If you predicted the lines right now, it would probably look like Marcus Johansson, Pavel Zacha and probably Jesper Bratt. Johansson missed most of last year with concussion issues, and Bratt fell off a planet in the second half. Both these players could use a veteran player like Zajac in the middle to calm them down when things get tough.
I would love it if Zacha could be trusted to take over that second line. However, right now, he’s never shown anything worth promising him a spot. Zacha scored 25 points this past season in 69 games. The Devils did him no favors. He was benched multiple times during the season, seemingly without explanation.
This is not to say the Devils should give up on Zacha. Quite the contrary actually. Zacha needs a very good season to keep his confidence from going to a place it might not come back. Placing him on the third line to start the year, playing in between firecrackers Stefan Noesen and Black Coleman, gives him the opportunity to relax. He’s playing with two players who make their own chances. That could help him get in the right place at the right time, score a few goals, and ease those expectations.
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Meanwhile, Zajac finds himself in a place he’s comfortable. He will be in the top six, playing with some great talent.
There’s a lot of interesting situations that could make this point moot. If Michael McLeod proves he can play center at the NHL level, the Devils can move Zacha to wing and keep Zajac at 3C. They could trade for someone who makes the same thing true. The Devils could sign someone late in the offseason that could surprise at the start of the season.
I’ll leave you with this, Zajac at 2C is not my ideal scenario. I really hope that Zacha figures things out this offseason and comes into camp ready. However, with how high the Devils were on Zajac coming into last season, it’s a possibility he starts the year right behind Nico. His stats don’t show he deserves it. Whether they are counting stats or advanced stats, nothing shows the Devils should start Zajac on the second line, but there are reasons to make that move. Mostly, because a mixture of Zacha, Coleman, Noesen and possibly Miles Wood would look very good.