On Tuesday the New Jersey Devils finalized their 23-man roster and 2015 1st round pick Pavel Zacha was not on it.
GM Ray Shero and the managerial staff elected to send Zacha back to Sarnia for another year of seasoning and I believe they made the right decision.
On that and more:
- Zacha didn't play poorly in the preseason but he did nothing to suggest he is ready to make meaningful contributions at the NHL level right now. Head coach John Hynes gave him very protected minutes against opposing team's bottom lines and also played him regularly on the power play. Despite that Zacha had just a secondary assist and a few shots to show for it. Let him go back to Sarnia, play big minutes in all situations, and we'll do this again next season.
- The Devils drafted Zacha 6th overall because they believe he will become an impact player. He is obviously not yet an impact player. The Devils were smart to send him back to Sarnia and wait until he's closer to reaching his potential before burning a year on his entry-level contract. There's no point in wasting a year of his ELC and having him chip in 20-25 points when a year from now that number could jump to 35-40.
- NHLNumbers lists the Devils average age at at 27.6. To put that in perspective the Buffalo Sabres and Edmonton Oilers are the NHL's two youngest teams and their average age is 26.5, according to Sportsnet.
Last year the average age of players on New Jersey's opening day roster was well above 30 so the Devils are certainly heading in the right direction.
Gone are Dainius Zubrus, Jaromir Jagr, Michael Ryder, Steve Bernier and Marek Zidlicky, among many others, and entering the fold are Sergei Kalinin, Jiri Tlusty, Reid Boucher, Stefan Matteau and John Moore.
The Devils probably won't have much success this year but meaningful minutes will be handed to young players on the up rather than declining veterans. There's a definite youth movement going on and it's refreshing to see.
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