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New Jersey Devils: Travis Zajac Point Prediction For 2018-19 Season

By Nick Villano

NEWARK, NJ - APRIL 03: New Jersey Devils center Travis Zajac (19) celebrates after scoring during the first period of the National Hockey League Game between the New Jersey Devils and the New York Rangers on April 3, 2018, at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
NEWARK, NJ - APRIL 03: New Jersey Devils center Travis Zajac (19) celebrates after scoring during the first period of the National Hockey League Game between the New Jersey Devils and the New York Rangers on April 3, 2018, at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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Over the next few weeks, Pucks and Pitchforks will release their points predictions for every starting player on the New Jersey Devils main roster. Today, we predict center Travis Zajac‘s output.

The New Jersey Devils lost their top-line center Travis Zajac right before training camp last season. It looked like all the hope for a successful season went out the window before it started. Then, Nico Hischier came in and showed he was ready to pick up the slack immediately.

Zajac was a shell of himself anyway last season. For the first time, it was clear he was no longer a number-one center. He was two steps too slow, and lost his scoring touch. A lot of that probably has to do with him returning too soon from his torn pectoral muscle, but some also has to do with him being 33 years old.

Zajac came back from his injury on November 16th, about a month before anybody expected him to. Maybe he was inspired by the Devils hot start, or possibly just saw a player in Hischier carry the spot he held for close to a decade. Either way, Zajac came back way too early. That much was clear.

Zajac ended the season with 12 goals and 14 assists. It’s clear that the Devils expected more from him, but didn’t get it. By the end of the season, Zajac was on the third line with Blake Coleman and Stefan Noesen. Honestly, the three worked really well together.

This season, expect Zajac to fall into the third-line role full time. He will likely center the line of Noesen and Coleman full time as long as they stay healthy. I see him falling into more of a playmaking role rather than any type of scorer, if he wasn’t there already.

So, what should we expect from Zajac, points wise? Expect his goals to level off, while his assists go back to where he was a few years ago. Playing this season fully healthy will help him get helpers, but losing time on the first-line power play, which I expect will happen, puts him in a worse position to score.

Goals: 10
Assists: 25
Points: 35

This is likely what we will see from Zajac for the remainder of his career. He has the chance to break double-digit goals by standing in front of the net and getting easy put backs. He will get a decent amount of assists. This is Travis Zajac until his contract ends in 2021.

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