New Jersey Devils: Should Pavel Zacha play in NHL this season?

By Nick Ziegler | Sep 24, 2015

It is no secret that the New Jersey Devils are in a rebuilding mode and it is also no secret that the Devils have struggled to score in recent years.

In the 2015 NHL Draft, the Devils hope that they made the right pick by selecting 18-year-old Pavel Zacha with the first round pick. The Devils selected the 18-year-old Zacha with the sixth overall pick to hopefully spark their offense in the near future. Despite being just 18-years-old, Zacha may be on the Devils this season, which would be way ahead of schedule.

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John Hynes is entering his first season as the Devils’ head coach, and he has been impressed with Zacha so far.

“He’s coming along. Pavel is working hard,” Hynes said to Rich Chere of NJ.com. “He played in the middle tonight. You can see he’s understanding the concepts better and he played faster tonight than he did the other night because of his comfort level. So he’s a day by day guy, but daily he’s getting better and more comfortable.

“You could see he had some pretty good speed and he made a few more plays than he has even in rookie camp. I thought defensively he seemed more responsible understanding the system than he has in the past.”

The Devils used Zacha on the first line with Adam Henrique and Kyle Palmieri against the New York Islanders and said he felt more comfortable than his first preseason game against the Boston Bruins.

“I felt much better than in the first game,” Zacha said to Chere.

His teammate Palmieri had some very kind words about Zacha and how impressive he is doing for being just being 18-years-old.

“I think he’s a good player. He understands the game. He plays with a maturity. It’s crazy to think an 18-year-old coming out of high school is up here and playing with the maturity and understanding of the game with the new system,” Palmieri said.

“I think he’s got a lot of raw talent there as a power forward. He’s got the body for it, the puck-handling skills and the nose for the net. I think it’s only a matter of time before things start clicking for him. It’s tough. Everyone on the team is getting used to a new system. So far he’s done a great job of understanding it.”

No decision has been made about whether or not Zacha will be playing in the NHL this season, but the fact he is playing on the first line already could be a sign of things to come.

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