vadvlfan Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Anyone think Lou might just pursue any Devils? Andy Green? Zajac? Merrill? Scott Stevens? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devlman Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 (edited) Zajac deal was fine and he's still the best center on the team. It just went bad, that will happen. That deal was not fine...anything but - At the time, and especially in hindsight. He isnt even the best center on a bad offensive team. One can hope he is bought-out at some point in the near future. Zajac is a third-line player, at best. And those days are rapidly fading. Edited July 26, 2015 by devlman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfitz804 Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 The Devils in 2013-14 were a playoff team undone by horrible shootout luck and the team's insistence on starting a bad goalie more than a good goalie. Yeah, being 27th out of 30 in Goals Scored and getting less than 200 for an entire season had nothing to do with it. Devils were 9th best in goals against DESPITE Marty not being effective and still failed to make the playoffs It's just as easy to say that if we had an additional 30 goal scorer, we'd have made the playoffs. Hell, if Henrique scored 30 instead of 25 and Zajac scored 25 instead of 18, we'd probably be in. You can manipulate stats either way, but bottom line is, if you only give up 208 in a season, you should probably be a playoff team. In fact, that year every other team that gave up 220 or less was in the playoffs. And not shockingly, they also all scored 200 or more. So was goaltending and bad shootout luck our issue, or was it absolutely terrible offense? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2ELIAS6 Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 I don't understand all of the zajac hate constantly. Yes we need him to put more points and goals up for us. ..but his contract isn't really our of line for what it is that he does. If he was on a team that produced more he wouldn't be viewed the way that he is by most people, he plays a solid defensive game ..and he's not payed like a #1 center..it's not his fault he is forced to play that role on the team its the teams for not having a true first line center. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jagknife Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Give Zajac a pair of wingers like he had when he earned that contract and everyone would be blowing their loads. He's not a goal scorer, never was expected to be one, but there are a considerable number of people who, for some absolutely fvcked up reason, think he was supposed to be an Art Ross/Richard trophy contender every year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CommonDreads Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 (edited) People consistently hate on Zajac and I find it to be entirely unwarranted, is he being paid a shade too much? Yeah, probably a bit, but his impact to this team transcends the score sheet. Watch any game from the past couple seasons where Zajac was out of the lineup due to injury or illness, and you'll find the Devils getting shredded in both possession and faceoffs. He has the talent to produce more offensively, and I hope he finds it next year, but he's an elite possession player and a very good two-way player, whether or not he's earning his money can't be based on goals and points, that's remarkably shallow. EDIT: Zajac's contract can also only be an issue if we're against the cap or he's logjamming our prospects, but that's not the case. The way it stands, we're merely just paying for a player that we need on our roster, nothing more nothing less. Edited July 26, 2015 by CommonDreads Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PuckDon't Lie Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 I wonder what DeBoer thinks? Realistic signing nice job Ray. He hasn't seen it yet. He's been on the phone with the Blues nonstop for the last three weeks trying to trade for Peter Harrold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfitz804 Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Welcome to NJDevs, where a great contract for a young defenseman turns into a Zajac sucks discussion. Some of you people are worse than the Facebook fans. Because the people who truly believe Zajac has a "terrible" contract are either casual fans with little knowledge of the sport, or unintelligent members of this forum. This forum is awesome any time someone doesn't agree with you, they insult you. Usually because they lack the ability to support their position with actual facts, so instead they start calling people unintelligent. If you like the Zajac deal, that's great. I'm not going to call you unintelligent because you disagree with me. I think he's overpaid and tha's that. Is it a "terrible" contract? No, because it hasn't prevented us from signing anyone else because we aren't up against the cap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onddeck Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 (edited) Regardless of how many times your feelings may have been hurt, this forum is a WORLD better than fans on Facebook, etc. Edited July 26, 2015 by Onddeck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jagknife Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Regardless of how many times your feelings may have been hurt, this forum is a WORLD better than fans on Facebook, etc. Here freaking here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zubie#8 Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 (edited) Zajacs contract is not horrible. He has a good skillset that every team needs (i.e. big right handed center who is good at faceoffs and is above average defensively) Edited July 26, 2015 by Zubie#8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
titans04 Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Because the people who truly believe Zajac has a "terrible" contract are either casual fans with little knowledge of the sport, or unintelligent members of this forum. Comical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triumph Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Yeah, being 27th out of 30 in Goals Scored and getting less than 200 for an entire season had nothing to do with it. Devils were 9th best in goals against DESPITE Marty not being effective and still failed to make the playoffs It's just as easy to say that if we had an additional 30 goal scorer, we'd have made the playoffs. Hell, if Henrique scored 30 instead of 25 and Zajac scored 25 instead of 18, we'd probably be in. You can manipulate stats either way, but bottom line is, if you only give up 208 in a season, you should probably be a playoff team. In fact, that year every other team that gave up 220 or less was in the playoffs. And not shockingly, they also all scored 200 or more. So was goaltending and bad shootout luck our issue, or was it absolutely terrible offense? Goaltending was a fixable issue. Bad shootout luck is a theoretically fixable issue. The Devils cannot fix what is wrong with the offense through any means but the draft which is why they have not signed anybody major this offseason and have only made one trade that improves the current team. It would have been nice if Zajac could've scored more goals, but he didn't, and he is not the only player responsible for the offense. He did a fine job. He is not going to make a power play run. He isn't going to score a lot of goals. That deal was not fine...anything but - At the time, and especially in hindsight. He isnt even the best center on a bad offensive team. One can hope he is bought-out at some point in the near future. Zajac is a third-line player, at best. And those days are rapidly fading. Hindsight is a terrible way to evaluate anything. He is the best center on this team. The deal's gone bad, but he can still bounce back next year with a 40 point season, still playing solid defense. If the Devils don't sign Travis Zajac, they're even worse than they are now, and they certainly would've been worse in 2013-14 even replacing his salary with some comparable player. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfitz804 Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Goaltending was a fixable issue. Bad shootout luck is a theoretically fixable issue. Goaltending was fixable, but as I pointed out, collectively our goalies were 9th best in goals allowed. That would have been good enough if we were even just average in goals scored. Also, how does one fix bad shootout luck? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarDew Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 I really like Larsson's contract. I believe he will get better moving forward. btw centers take face-offs, feed wingers, set up plays. Scoring is not their #1 objective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfitz804 Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 I really like Larsson's contract. I believe he will get better moving forward. btw centers take face-offs, feed wingers, set up plays. Scoring is not their #1 objective. He also sucked at feeding wingers and setting up plays. 14 assists. He was out scored and outclassed by Steve Bernier, and in 7 fewer games no less. He's got to do better than a 4th line guy making under a million a year, whether that guy is a winger or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jagknife Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 He also sucked at feeding wingers and setting up plays. 14 assists. He was out scored and outclassed by Steve Bernier, and in 7 fewer games no less. He's got to do better than a 4th line guy making under a million a year, whether that guy is a winger or not. Its a fair point, but you also have to think about who he matched up against: first line talents of other teams. Bernier pulled a magic rabbit out of his ass, zero question, but had easier opposition. But on topic, again, yay Larsson! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triumph Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Goaltending was fixable, but as I pointed out, collectively our goalies were 9th best in goals allowed. That would have been good enough if we were even just average in goals scored. Also, how does one fix bad shootout luck? They were never going to be average in goals scored. Who was looking at that roster thinking, oh yeah, this team's going to score a lot? It would've been nice if they could've scored more, but 1 guy wasn't fixing that. You've gotten off track here. Zajac was never signed to be a dominant first line center. He provided what he should in 2013-14 - maybe you'd like a couple more goals. 2014-15 are when things went off the rails, much like this thread, but I'm giving basically everyone a pass on that coaching clusterfvck that we endured. You can't fix bad shootout luck, but the point is that was a playoff team that got some tough breaks that they couldn't overcome (because they weren't good enough to do that). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slasher72 Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Zajac deal was fine and he's still the best center on the team. If there's one major departure Shero takes from the old regime, I hope it's this. Paying a guy top dollar and seeing him actually produce would be such a welcome change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucifer91 Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 If there's one major departure Shero takes from the old regime, I hope it's this. Paying a guy top dollar and seeing him actually produce would be such a welcome change. Top dollar? His cap hit is like 27th in the league for centers and that number will go up, once a few more centers get new contracts. We aren't a cap team, I have no issues with his contract. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevsMan84 Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Compare Zajac's contract to other teams top centers on UFA contracts and Zajac's and you will see Zajac's contract is pretty good. Plus like others have said in the past it's not like his contract is preventing others from being signed, so really this is all a moot point. Bernier had a great season, but I bet anything it will go down as his career season. Plus like others have also said he was not exactly going up against the other team's best and from what I remember he played a lot on the PP this year as well, something he didn't do in the past. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colorado Rockies 1976 Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 The funny thing is if Zajac hadn't been re-signed and had walked (for what would've been even more money, because GMs can never help themselves when it comes to UFAs), Lou would've probably gotten killed for that too. Sometimes you take a pre-emptive strike and hope it works out. Maybe Lou bid against himself a little, but probably not by that much. And Tri is right in that centers are really hard to find. Zajac does offer more than just offense, but yeah, it does suck that his offense was borderline non-existent last season. At this point, if he can turn in seasons like 2013-14 over the next few years, I'd be fine with that. And regardless of how it turns out with Larsson, I think this was a good hope-it-works out signing. We know how it works: sometimes you take a shot with one of your unproven homegrowns with upside and hope it's somewhere reasonably and extremely cost-effective, while the unproven gets more money and term upfront than might be justified. The main thing to remember about these deals is to not judge them right away...sometimes it's not until Year 3 or 4 that they become relative bargains. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfitz804 Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Top dollar? His cap hit is like 27th in the league for centers and that number will go up, once a few more centers get new contracts. We aren't a cap team, I have no issues with his contract. I think what he was saying is we SHOULD pay for a top dollar center who will produce, not that Zajac is receiving top dollar. AT least I hope he was. I would agree its a good idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redruM Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 I'm really happy they signed him LT, but we will not know if this is a good or bad deal till we see where Larsson is headed. If he continues to improve as he did in during the 2nd half of last year grat contract, if he reverts to PDB days, then awful.. its a wait and see thing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devilsfan118 Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Zajac's deal is frustrating, but it's not really a big deal unless you think the Devils will be contending and need the cap space for a better player. Which doesn't seem to be the case..at all. At least for a few years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.