Evaluating Travis Zajac’s Legacy With New Jersey Devils
By Nick Villano
New Jersey Devils center Travis Zajac will play his 900th game with the New Jersey Devils Tuesday night. Where does he fall in the history of this franchise?
Tonight is a very important night for New Jersey Devils longest tenured player Travis Zajac. It’s been 13 years since Zajac made his debut in a red and black sweater, hitting the ice on October 6th, 2006. At that point, the Devils were still a perennial contender, and had some picking them to win the Stanley Cup. Obviously, having Martin Brodeur helped that, but young superstars like Zajac, Zach Parise and Brian Gionta were reasons for optimism. Add in the primes of Patrik Elias, Scott Gomez, and Paul Martin and this looked like a team that would always be in contention.
Well, of all those players, the only one left on the roster now is Zajac. Andy Greene also played his first season with the team, but he was not a regular in the lineup yet. Zajac has been the cornerstone of this franchise for well over a decade.
The Devils have a long legacy of great players, one in Scott Niedermayer who just had his jersey retired with a second team. The rafters currently have the names Elias, Niedermayer, Daneyko, Stevens and Brodeur hanging above the Prudential Center forever. That’s a who’s who of Devils greats, obviously. When one talks about Zajac, will his name ever go besides theirs?
That’s a hard question for this franchise. Every other player in those rafters have won a Stanley Cup. Zajac came close in 2012, but nobody remembers second place. If Zajac was able to help deliver a fourth championship to this franchise, his legacy looks much different.
By the time Zajac’s contract ends in 2021, he will have 15 years with one franchise (barring a trade). If he stays healthy next season, he will pass John MacLean and Scott Stevens for fourth all time in games played for New Jersey. That’s very impressive. He’ll also likely pass Parise in goals, Stevens in assists, and Kirk Mueller in points. He’s going to be in the top five in all the major categories all time for the Devils.
His numbers overall look very impressive, but can the Devils retire the number of a player who never once was the best player on the team? He’s not beloved like Daneyko is, and he didn’t start the franchise’s reboot in a new city. He was part of an established franchise.
Zajac’s legacy will always be complicated. He was always a leader in the locker room, but never enough to be captain. He was always a top center on the team, but never the best player possible. Zajac was reliable to do what he was asked, but never really went above and beyond.
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His career highs came in 2009-10, but he didn’t even break 30 goals. This is what makes defining Zajac’s legacy so difficult. When looking at his numbers as a whole, they look impressive. Every year he’s good for 15 goals and 40 points. He hasn’t been good for more than that in a decade.
Zajac’s legacy will go down in the same breath as many other Devils who did some really good things, but never went over the top. Bobby Holik, Brian Gionta, Andy Greene and John MacLean are names that come to mind. They were great Devils in their time, but all those who retired did not get their jersey retired. Outside of Greene, who’s still active, it may be different because they all left.
Again, it’s hard to find a perfect legacy comparison for Zajac. It was great to have him on the Devils for as long as they did. He plays a very important role in today’s NHL, shutting down the opponent’s top guy. He may be overpaid, but that shouldn’t impact his legacy.
We should celebrate the fact we had a player like Zajac for 900 games, and welcome everything he brings over the next two seasons. He will always be a guy who fans love, and he will likely stay within the organization after he retires. Whether he gets a jersey retirement ceremony or not, he was a great member of this organization.