New Jersey Devils: Pavel Zacha’s Contract Negotiation Could Get Messy
By Nick Villano
The New Jersey Devils have quite a few restricted free agent contracts to negotiate this offseason. One that could take a while to get done is Pavel Zacha’s deal.
Pavel Zacha is the most polarizing New Jersey Devils player on the roster. Part of it has to do with the fact that he was drafted 6th overall in the 2015 NHL Draft. Mikko Rantanen, Matt Barzal, Zach Werenski, Brock Boesser, Kyle Connor and Timo Meier were all still on the board when the Devils chose Zacha. At the time, experts were split on the Zacha pick, but everyone agreed if he could put it all together he’d be a great two-way player and possible number-one center.
Zacha has not put it all together. He’s been really good on defense, and even better on the penalty kill, but his offense is basically non existent. He’s scored a career-high goals this season, and he has 11 goals.
The past two seasons, he scored eight goals in each year, despite getting full seasons both years. He gets into spurts where he’s unstoppable, like when he scored goals in four straight games. He also can go a full month without a point. The Devils were obviously hoping he would be more consistent at this point.
The Devils have a lot of restricted free agents to deal with this offseason. Will Butcher, Stefan Noesen, John Quenneville, Connor Carrick and Mirco Mueller all have contracts ending at the conclusion of this season. However, many of those deals will either be simpler than Zacha’s, or Shero may look to move on.
More from Pucks and Pitchforks
- Should New Jersey Devils Try Load Management With Vitek Vanecek?
- New Jersey Devils Will Prove That Last Year Wasn’t A Fluke
- New Jersey Devils: Luke Hughes’ Playmaking Will Outshine His Mistakes
- New Jersey Devils: Chase Stillman’s Performance Causes Concern
- Can Devils Fans Separate Zach Parise Heartbreak From Achievements?
What is a player like Zacha worth? He’s clearly skilled, great at many things on the ice, has three years of NHL experience and is still just 21 years old. There’s value in a player that’s played this much, even if the results aren’t perfect.
Obviously, Zacha hasn’t earned a big payday, but he’s probably going to want a raise from what he’s making now. He’s making just under $900,000. Last offseason, GM Ray Shero gave Steve Santini $1.4 million a year for three years. Clearly, Shero is willing to pay for something he hasn’t necessarily seen yet.
It’s hard to argue that Zacha is worth less than Santini, but they are in different positions. Santini wasn’t a 1st-round pick, and his presence isn’t a reminder that the rebuild could be much further along. Still, Shero is not the kind of guy to bring that into a negotiation.
The money is not where this is going to get contentious. The Devils will likely want to lock up Zacha at his current rate for a long time. Shero knows Zacha still has upside left, and he has time to realize it. He may never be a 30-goal scorer, but if he can score 20 while becoming one of the best penalty killers in the league, then we’ll forget about some of the other players the Devils missed on in that draft.
dark. Next. How Likely Current Devils Will Make Next Year's Roster?
This negotiation could go longer than Miles Wood‘s did this past offseason. The Devils aren’t going to give up on Zacha, but they may not want to give him a short-term deal. They don’t want to just buy out restricted free agency years without getting some unrestricted years. Zacha also doesn’t have arbitration rights, so that could cause this negotiation to last a long time.
Hopefully, this is a quick and easy process, but it might be one of the more complicated contracts of the offseason.