The New Jersey Devils have gotten a lot of good play from one of their longest-tenured players, so what can we expect from him in 2019-20?
The New Jersey Devils have had Travis Zajac in the fold for a long time. It has been 13 seasons, to be exact. That is tied with Andy Greene for the longest-tenured player on the team. Entering his age 34 season, there should be some cautious optimism to what he can bring to the table. This new and improved forward group that will surround Zajac should certainly play to his advantage, and he will still be relied upon to be a solid player defensively.
He has been on and off with his offense over the last few seasons, but 2018-19 was pretty good for him. In 80 games he had 19 goals and 27 assists for 46 points. He averaged 19:16 minutes of ice time. He stayed healthy for pretty much all the games while the rest of the squad couldn’t. In a season that the Devils were very down, he was having a great year with all things considered. He didn’t always have an ideal line to play on that fit his skill set and he found a way to make it work.
He also does the little things that help the Devils win on any given night. He won a career-high 58.16% of the faceoffs he took. He also spends more time against the oppositions best players than any Devil over the last few seasons. That pressure will start to be lifted more and more as Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes develop, but he should still see a lot of those hard minutes in 2019-20.
Zajac still has two more seasons left under contract, and he is showing no reason why he can’t be extremely useful for the duration of those two years. He will likely be used in that two-way third-line center role that he has become accustomed to this year. It is extremely important that Zajac muster up another season like he had last year. He isn’t going to score 30 goals but if he can have 15-20 while being his normal shutdown self in his own end, it will be another great year for number 19.
Zajac’s linemates could vary throughout the season depending on performance but it would be sweet to see the third line with Zajac in the middle and Blake Coleman on his left and Wayne Simmonds on his right. It would be a tough line to play against and should be solid in their own zone. That is also a line that could produce a little bit of offense as they all had 17 goals or more last year. That combo would also mean that the more gifted offensive players above them are playing well on lines one and two. Expect Zajac to have another solid year on a good Devils team.