Among the biggest disappointments for the Devils last season was Travis Zajac.
Coming off a near 50-point season in 2013-14 where he played elite defense - and posted numbers that could have legitimately put him in the conversation for a Selke Trophy - Zajac struggled to produce from Day 1 last year, and finished with just 25 points in 74 games.
Some thoughts on Zajac's off year and some other Devils tidbits:
- I've carried Zajac's water for a long time but I'll be the first to admit he was not very good last season. His production didn't resemble anything close to what you'd expect from someone making $5.75 million and that needs to change.
In saying that it certainly wasn't all his fault. Zajac spent almost a third of his 5 vs 5 shifts playing on a line with Jordin Tootoo. Think about that. The Devils thought highly enough of Zajac to pay him nearly $6 million yet one of his most frequent linemates was a guy who has 24 points in his last 121 games. Tootoo is not a bad 4th liner but he certainly isn't someone you want playing with your highest paid skater.
Mike Cammalleri was one of the only forwards on the team who was able to accomplish anything last season and, despite being Zajac's most frequent linemate, Zajac only spent 540 of his 1,050 minutes with him.
Again, he needs to do a better job of producing regardless of who he is with and I think he will next season
- One aspect of Adam Larsson's game I think gets underrated is his offensive ability. I wrote more in-depth about that yesterday but I'll touch on it again here.
Last season Larsson produced at a 30 point pace despite playing for one of the worst offensive teams in the NHL (only Buffalo and Arizona scored less goals). Factor in that he wasn't able to get into a rhythm until the 2nd half of the season and he saw almost no power play time and that's impressive production.
Sticking with his offensive game it's worth nothing that from 2012-2015 Larsson is 20th among 190 defensemen (minimum 1,500) in primary assists per 60 minutes at full-strength. That ranks him ahead of Drew Doughty, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Kevin Shattenkirk, among many others. He did that as a 20, 21, and 22-year-old while playing for a poor offensive team.
- NBC's hockey schedule came out and unsurprisingly the Devils aren't exactly a staple of their coverage. In fact New Jersey will make just one appearance on NBC/NBCSN next season: January 10th against Minnesota.
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