Starring role in playoffs is payback for Zajac

Enlarge Image

Travis Zajac is hitting his stride after a hellish injury-hampered regular season. (TOM MIHALEK / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES)

Sometimes it takes a big stage like the Stanley Cup Conference Finals to let the world in on a secret but the word is definitely out on Travis Zajac now.

The New Jersey Devils centreman is one of the most underrated players in the NHL but with six goals and five assists in 16 playoff games, including the game winner in Monday's 4-1 win over the New York Rangers, Zajac and his all around game are becoming more and more difficult to miss.

Zajac is top ten in the NHL in terms of defensive forwards and he's got a lot more offence than people give him credit for.

The 27-year-old is just entering his prime and ranks seventh in playoff scoring showcasing a game that demands he be considered for Canada's Olympic team down the road.

The Winnipeg native and son of Tom and Trish Zajac is a lot like Ryan Kesler in the way that he can skate, dominate in the faceoff circle and be used in a shutdown role against the NHL's best offensive players.

In reality, Zajac is best suited to be an elite No. 2 centre in the NHL but because of his chemistry with linemate and captain Zach Parise is slotted in the No. 1 role with the Devils. In 423 career NHL games Zajac has 91 goals and 164 assists for 255 points.

"Zach is a great guy to play with. We see the game the same way in that we like to forecheck hard and be aggressive. He's also a very strong two-way player and we feed off each other in that area of the game. It's fun to have an effect on the other team's offensive players," said Zajac, in a phone interview with the Free Press on Tuesday. "I've played with Zach a lot throughout my career and we've become good friends. He's great to play with."

There's so much to like about Zajac's game and he's a quality person that puts team first and elevates his teammates with both his play and his off-ice message.

This past season has been a little bit of heaven and hell for Zajac. He missed most of the season after suffering a torn achilles while training last summer and took part in only 16 regular-season games collecting just six points.

The playoffs, however, have been a different matter altogether and Zajac has hit his stride just at the right time and coach Pete DeBoer is beginning to rely on him and Parise more and more. Monday night Zajac completed a nice passing play and beat Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist for the winning goal to even the Eastern Conference best-of-seven series at two games apiece.

"It was a tough year, that's for sure. I tried to come back in January but it wasn't ready and I talked to Dr. Peter McDonald in Winnipeg, he did my surgery, and we both thought it was best to rest it and give it some time. When I came back near the end of the season, it was way better," said Zajac. "The silver lining in all this was I was able to be around for the birth of my son."

Zajac and his wife Nicole greeted baby boy Zenon into the home in January.

The last stretch of the regular season wasn't much to rave about for Zajac as he picked up three points over the Devils final seven games.

When Zajac did return, he found the Devils had changed their style and added some punch to their reputation as soul-less defenders.

"Pete DeBoer came in he wanted us to be more aggressive and to get our D involved as much as possible. We struggled in the regular season but it's all come together in the playoffs and we've strung some games together where we've played pretty well," said Zajac. "We frustrate team with our forecheck and with our D keeping pucks alive and that's given our forward group more scoring chances. Our forward group, we're pretty confident we can score and we can wear teams out."

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @garylawless

Gary Lawless, Winnipeg Free Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 23, 2012 C1