The New Jersey Devils traded Pavel Zacha for Erik Haula this offseason. It’s clearly a deal to make room on the roster, but Haula isn’t a nobody on this team.
Pavel Zacha was always a headache for New Jersey Devils fans. He wasn’t a bad player. In fact, he led the team in points during the shortened 2021 season. However, that was the problem. It seemed like every time he team a few steps forward, a few steps back weren’t far behind. He would go on a run, and then the Devils would see him fall off right after. It didn’t help that he was drafted in the famous 2015 NHL Draft. He was taken before Zach Werenski, Timo Meier, Mikko Rantanen, Mat Barzal, Kyle Connor, Thomas Chabot, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Brock Boeser.
This offseason, the constant reminder was sent to the Boston Bruins. In return, the Devils got veteran center Erik Haula.
Haula was an interesting choice for return. There’s no ceiling higher for Haula. He’s 31 years old, so we know what he is. He’s a 30-40 point player who can be safe on the bottom six and make minimal mistakes. He’s not going to wow you with skill, but he’s going to be consistent as long as he stays healthy.
That’s like… fine we guess? However, the Devils traded a 25-year-old player who clearly had a higher ceiling than Haula who at least scored 30 points over the last three seasons. Sure, Zacha was in a much more enviable position constantly playing with Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier. One would expect a lot more. Just look at what Jesper Bratt was able to do.
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So, the Devils needed to move on, and they found a home that would work for Zacha. They got a veteran in return. It could be a win-win.
Haula is going to play center this season. There are really two spots that make any sense. He could either play center on the third line where he would take the spot that Jesper Boqvist and Dawson Mercer were originally going to fight over, or he could take over for Michael McLeod if he ends up not being on the team at the start of the season.
The Devils didn’t necessarily need a bottom-six center this offseason, but it’s intriguing they have someone like Haula. Last season, checking to see who he played the most minutes with, it was actually with Taylor Hall. He spent 549 minutes with Hall at 5v5. He was regularly on a line with Hall and David Pastrnak. One would expect him to have more points with those two teammates.
The advanced stats showed that the Bruins did perform dominantly with this line on the ice. The numbers are actually interesting (collected from Natural Stat Trick). With Haula on the ice, the trio had a 55% CorsiFor. Without him, Hall and Pastrnak produced north of 60% CF%. However, the goal differential and high-danger goal differential shows what Haula can bring. Together, the three had 27 total goals for at even strength and only 12 against. In about a third of the time, Hall and Pastrnak without Haula allowed 11 goals and scored just 12. When it comes to high-danger goals, Haula brought slightly more to the table.
To nobody’s surprise, Haula was much worse when playing without Hall and Pastrnak. However, he was about even for chances, high-danger chances, and goals. Still, he is going to play with highly-skilled players no matter what line he’s on for the Devils. Can he ever hit the highs of 2017-18 when he scored 55 points with the newly minted Vegas Golden Knights? Probably not, but he can at least provide a threat in the bottom six.