New Jersey Devils: Grading Pavel Zacha’s Weird Season

The New Jersey Devils may or may not have Pavel Zachqa on their team for the long haul but he had a strange season in 2019-20.

The New Jersey Devils still don’t know for sure what they have in Pavel Zacha. They know that he was the 6th-overall pick in the 2015 NHL Draft and hasn’t lived up to that selection. It is most apparent that it is looking like that year’s draft could one day rival the 2003 draft as one of the best in NHL history. Okay, maybe Zacha didn’t live up to 6th overall, but he definitely belongs in an NHL lineup as a role player.

There might not be a bigger scapegoat for the fanbase in the last ten years than Zacha. People overlook the good things he does because he was a sixth-overall pick. He does deserve some hate because he hasn’t developed the way we would have liked. He probably won’t ever reach his true potential. With that said, he can still be useful to this team.

Zacha is one of the best penalty killers in the NHL. He is often more dangerous offensively when the Devils are short-handed as well which is insane think about. The thing that gets Zacha a lot of hate is that he isn’t great defensively at even strength nor does he light the world on fire with the offense. There is one reason to want one more look at him, however, if you are a Devils fan.

The line Zacha was on with Jesper Bratt and Nikita Gusev really took off in the second half of the season. It allowed Zacha to blow past his former career-high of 25 points with eight goals and 24 assists for 32 points. That might not be a lot of points in people’s minds but Bratt had the same number of points in 60 games and most people would say that Bratt had a good year.

Pavel Zacha definitely has his flaws but he is still only 23 years old. He is probably not going to turn into a superstar, but if he was just a solid 3rd line center behind Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes that would be lovely. He will look even better once Hughes and Hischier really pick it up ahead of him in the lineup. It remains to be seen of Zacha will play with Gusev and Bratt in the long term but it might be worth trying for whichever coach is in charge next season.

Zacha is a hard player to grade because it was definitely an improvement over the prior seasons. Is it because of his linemates? Maybe. If Zacha can build on the way he and his line played in the second half for the Devils he could be a useful player for them as the years go on. If you forget about where he was drafted, you might have an easier time seeing it.