New Jersey Devils notes: Travis Zajac's (potential) value and Aarnie Talvitie's ELC

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I don’t know that he’d entertain it – especially in the middle of a pandemic – but I wonder if Travis Zajac is at all willing to waive his no-trade clause.

I think he could bring back a sneaky-good return, even if the list of teams he’d actually go to is very short. There are a few reasons for this.

First and foremost, not many centers are available. At all. Mikael Granlund (who plays a lot of wing), Eric Staal (10 points in 31 games) and Luke freaking Glendening are the ‘marquee’ center rentals on Craig Custance’s 28 player big board. There is a very real shortage of quality down the middle, which could make Zajac quite enticing.

He is quietly having a very good year, too. Baejac surprisingly leads the Devils in 5v5 scoring – he’s surged of late on a line with Yegor Sharangovich/Janne Kuokkanen – and has a plus-7 goal differential in that game state. That’s impressive considering the Devils have been out-scored at 5v5 this year.

Zajac is generating offense, and getting results, while providing leadership, winning face-offs, and doing all the little things GMs covet.

I get that he might want to stay put and that’s absolutely his right. But, if he’s willing to leave for a couple of months, the Devils could net a quality asset or two, give Zajac a well-deserved chance to play for a Cup, and then re-sign him on a cheaper deal in the summer.

It’s definitely worth exploring.

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The Devils signed yet another of their prospects today – Tyce Thompson signed yesterday, which you should read more about here – inking forward Aarnie Talvitie to a two-year ELC that begins in 2021-22 (for now he’ll play on an AHL deal).

It’s never a bad thing to get kids into the system and see what they have to offer but I’m not overly optimistic about Talvitie’s ceiling.

His development really seems to have stagnated after ACL surgery that cost him a large chunk of what was a very impressive freshman campaign in Penn State (he had 16 points in 17 games).

He scored six goals, and added 13 assists, in 30 games during the 2019-20 campaign. That ranked him 8th in team scoring; not overly impressive for a drafted prospect in his 20s.

Talvitie didn’t take much of a step forward this season, either, putting up 13 points in 21 games. While he set a new career high with seven goals, his per game point outputs were actually a little lower this season than last.

All told, the now 22-year-old managed only 32 points in 51 games over the last two years. There’s more to the game than points, of course, but production in the lower levels is usually a prerequisite to success at the NHL level.

I think it’s fair to say he has a lot of work to do to make that jump. It’s also fair to say that he is a worthwhile signing even if he never makes it as a full-time NHLer.

I mean, Yegor Sharangovich, Janne Kuokkanen, Mikhail Maltsev, Michael McLeod and Nathan Bastian *just* graduated from Binghamton. And Nolan Foote probably isn’t far off.

The B-Devs really need to replenish the cupboards and get their hands on some younger forwards they can try and groom. This signing is a step towards that.

And, maybe, with the right direction, they can eventually turn Talvitie into an NHL player; or, at the least, someone the big club can call upon for a game or two in a jam.

numbers via NaturalStatTrick.com and HockeyDB.com

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