New Jersey Devils Show Travis Zajac The Money

(Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

On July 22, with an arbitration hearing on the horizon, the New Jersey Devils finally reached an agreement with Travis Zajac. They resigned him to a multi-year multi-million-dollar contract for four years that's worth $15.55 million, which is a cap hit of $3,887,500.

The New Jersey Devils showed him the money by giving him a huge multi-million-dollar contract. I believe it's now time that Zajac shows the Devils the numbers and some consistency.

Travis Zajac has been in the NHL for three years now and, at times, it has been a very bumpy road. In his first NHL season he struggled at times, as he was trying to adapt to the speed of the game at the NHL level. He scored 17 goals and he had 25 assists in 80 games. The next season he struggled even more and his numbers decreased. He scored 14 goals and had only 20 assists. Travis played in every single game that season as well. Last season, it appeared that Travis Zajac had broken out of his shell and he put up some pretty good numbers. Travis had 20 goals and 42 assists, all while playing on the Devils' top line alongside Jamie Langenbrunner and Zach Parise.

With the kind of money he's getting paid, Zajac needs to put up some big time numbers. He has now adjusted to the NHL and he has the talent and ability to do so.

At times, Zajac looks like he can't be stopped. He shoots the puck well, makes great passes, scores big-time goals, and just plays well all around. However, at other times Zajac looks lost and his game is way off. If he can play well consistently and put up the big numbers, Zajac will be well worth the money that the Devils gave him. If he doesn't, then it will just be yet another Devils' player with a huge contract who doesn't play up to their paycheck like Dainius Zubrus and Brian Rolston.

Travis Zajac can be the next great Devil alongside Zach Parise. All the pieces are there for him to be successful. All he needs to do is put them together and help the Devils continue to be a successful team.

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