PAVEL ZACHA - Center - 22 - $2.25MM Cap Hit - RFA in 2022-2023
LAST UPDATED 8/20/19
As a former #6 overall pick in one of this generation's most stacked draft classes, Pavel Zacha has been a major bust. Had the Devils selected any one of the players who went in the next four picks, they would have selected a franchise-altering talent. Ivan Provorov. Zach Werenski. Timo Meier. Mikko Rantanen. But instead, they have Pavel Zacha. But that's not what I'm evaluating, I'm strictly evaluating Zacha's play alone, not the play of those in his draft class compared to him. Still, mentioning who the Devils missed out on gets to the central point about Zacha's game, it's so frustratingly disappointing based on what people were expecting. Zacha has so many great tools. He's big, strong, he's a decent skater, and he plays very strong on the puck. Devils fans likely expected Zacha to blossom into a 60-70 point, bruising power forward. Instead, Zacha's offensive game never developed. He struggled to translate the scoring he had in junior hockey to the NHL, and I think he was rushed as a teenager into the NHL. When you immediately have to move from being a successful junior scorer into the NHL, you don't get the chance to really correct your scoring habits so that they're sustainable in the professional game. In junior, Zacha could rely on physically dominating forwards and being able to have free reign with the puck. He could go to the net as he pleased and he could take his time with the puck to sort out what to do with it. Those are things you just can't do in the NHL, and Zacha never really got the chance to build up confidence and better habits in the AHL, and as a result his development stalled. I still think there's hope for Zacha to be a good, powerful 3C, and if his defensive isolated impact metrics are any indication, he is already an absolutely elite penalty killer. I think there's still some upside for Zacha, but as of right now he's a 3/4C who specializes in killing penalties.
As a former #6 overall pick in one of this generation's most stacked draft classes, Pavel Zacha has been a major bust. Had the Devils selected any one of the players who went in the next four picks, they would have selected a franchise-altering talent. Ivan Provorov. Zach Werenski. Timo Meier. Mikko Rantanen. But instead, they have Pavel Zacha. But that's not what I'm evaluating, I'm strictly evaluating Zacha's play alone, not the play of those in his draft class compared to him. Still, mentioning who the Devils missed out on gets to the central point about Zacha's game, it's so frustratingly disappointing based on what people were expecting. Zacha has so many great tools. He's big, strong, he's a decent skater, and he plays very strong on the puck. Devils fans likely expected Zacha to blossom into a 60-70 point, bruising power forward. Instead, Zacha's offensive game never developed. He struggled to translate the scoring he had in junior hockey to the NHL, and I think he was rushed as a teenager into the NHL. When you immediately have to move from being a successful junior scorer into the NHL, you don't get the chance to really correct your scoring habits so that they're sustainable in the professional game. In junior, Zacha could rely on physically dominating forwards and being able to have free reign with the puck. He could go to the net as he pleased and he could take his time with the puck to sort out what to do with it. Those are things you just can't do in the NHL, and Zacha never really got the chance to build up confidence and better habits in the AHL, and as a result his development stalled. I still think there's hope for Zacha to be a good, powerful 3C, and if his defensive isolated impact metrics are any indication, he is already an absolutely elite penalty killer. I think there's still some upside for Zacha, but as of right now he's a 3/4C who specializes in killing penalties.
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