Confirmed with Link: Zacha signs ELC with Devils

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

holy cow, some real #hottakes there...

23 goals and 47 points in 39 games is not impressive to you....? especially playing on a team that was devoid of offense (at least until they paired him with Konecny). What the hell did you expect the guy to do this year, exactly?

he has BLATANTLY stood out to me in the couple of times I watched him this season. Stating that he is NOT having a good season is simply wrong, no other way around it....

 

[Edmonton East]

holy cow, some real #hottakes there...

23 goals and 47 points in 39 games is not impressive to you....? especially playing on a team that was devoid of offense (at least until they paired him with Konecny). What the hell did you expect the guy to do this year, exactly?

he has BLATANTLY stood out to me in the couple of times I watched him this season. Stating that he is NOT having a good season is simply wrong, no other way around it....

Haha did you watch 1 game? 1 highlight reel? Pretty clear you have no clue what you are talking about since Konecny has blown Zacha out of the water in terms of production since joining Sarnia. So shouldn't it even be more alarming that while Konecny is producing at nearly a 2ppg clip, Zacha has 47 points in 39? And are we just going to ignore the continued ridiculous amount of minor penalties? That is a big deal.

He is not having a good season.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Haha did you watch 1 game? 1 highlight reel? Pretty clear you have no clue what you are talking about since Konecny has blown Zacha out of the water in terms of production since joining Sarnia. So shouldn't it even be more alarming that while Konecny is producing at nearly a 2ppg clip, Zacha has 47 points in 39? And are we just going to ignore the continued ridiculous amount of minor penalties? That is a big deal.

He is not having a good season.

ya man, I totally just watched one game. you caught me!!!!11

I don't give a **** about penalties. holy cow, THAT is one of your main criticisms? sheesh....talk about nit-picking.

when have I ever proclaimed ANYTHING regarding Devils' prospects? if anything, I am one of those that pumps the brakes. Have done so on Severson, Merrill, Wood, Boucher, etc. so I have literally no idea what you are blabbing about

Please answer this question- what did you expect Zacha to do this year, keeping in mind that his team is not very good? would love to hear your expectations.

 

[Edmonton East]

he sucks but don't think that means I think he sucks

While I do not believe Zacha is having a good season, he is still very young and I hope he can improve in the coming years.

This is exactly why players like Vrana, Corrente, Bergfors,Vasyunov, etc were all considered future cornerstone players on here for years.

 

[Feed Me A Stray Cat]

Zacha continues to be unimpressive. Hooray. Mediocre stats (especially for a guy with his size advantage) and didn't stand out much in any of the 7 games I watched.

Though I'm sure everyone on here will make 50 excuses or somehow try to state he is having a good season.

By no means am I saying he won't be a good player at this point, but to say his performance this season has been anything but disappointing given his draft position (and how those draft around him have performed), is simply unrealistic.

And stop taking so many friggin minor penalties. Christ.

I was a Zacha skeptic prior to the draft, so I relate to what you're saying, but you're really stretching here. Just because the Flyers look to have a steal with Konecny doesn't invalidate Zacha's progression.

 

[AfroThunder396]

Pretty much every professional scout and nearly everyone who watches Sarnia regularly disagrees with your position. Zacha has had a fantastic year and was a one-man offense for most of the season.

 

[Feed Me A Stray Cat]

While I do not believe Zacha is having a good season, he is still very young and I hope he can improve in the coming years.

Forgot it's a requirement to hop down on your knees and blow every prospect on this board. This is exactly why players like Vrana, Corrente, Bergfors,Vasyunov, etc were all considered future cornerstone players on here for years.

Vrana and Vasyunov never had a post draft season like Zacha. Neither did Corrente.

The only one close is Bergfors, who actually was a contributing NHL player for a while.

You just seem bitter that Zacha's PPG numbers haven't gone up as much as someone like Konecny. Chill out. 2015 looks to be a great draft class. Doesn't invalidate Zacha.

 

[John Pedro]

Zacha is a good prospect, no doubt about it. Guys like Kyle Connor, Rantanen and Barzal makes him look like a bad pick at 6th overall, though.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

you expected Zacha to produce at a 1.5 PPG clip and he is producing at a 1.21 PPG clip on a terrible offensive team. so the difference of >0.3 PPG (or 11 points in 39 games) is the difference between him having a great year in your eyes vs. him having a terrible year? alrighty then!

you can say whatever you want. you also should be ready to take the criticism when you say something completely outlandish.

Again, I criticize our prospects all the time while certain posters rant and rave about JAGs like Kerfoot. So I am not sure why you are coming at me with that garbage.

 

[R8Devs]

Zacha was producing at 1.3 ppg when no on else on his team was at ppg. I don't think it's misguided to say he didn't have support then. I can't find the star for this but I think zacha is probably doing really well in goals and first assists.

 

[Edmonton East]

you expected Zacha to produce at a 1.5 PPG clip and he is producing at a 1.21 PPG clip on a terrible offensive team. so the difference of >0.3 PPG (or 11 points in 39 games) is the difference between him having a great year in your eyes vs. him having a terrible year? alrighty then!

you can say whatever you want. you also should be ready to take the criticism when you say something completely outlandish.

Again, I criticize our prospects all the time while certain posters rant and rave about JAGs like Kerfoot. So I am not sure why you are coming at me with that garbage.

I never said he is having a terrible year. EVER. I never said he was a bust. What I said was he is having a disappointing season relative to is draft position/peers. Never said he sucked, Never said to hell with him. To recap, word for word:

"By no means am I saying he won't be a good player at this point, but to say his performance this season has been anything but disappointing given his draft position (and how those draft around him have performed), is simply unrealistic. "

 

[Devils Dominion]

It's hard to compare Zacha to players in other leagues.

He will be compared to Barzal here since many fans wanted us to draft Barzal.

I can't believe how dumb Edmonton was to give up that draft pick for the bust Reinhart.

I've been calling reinhart a bust for a few years prior to that trade.

 

[Edmonton East]

It's hard to compare Zacha to players in other leagues.

He will be compared to Barzal here since many fans wanted us to draft Barzal.

I can't believe how dumb Edmonton was to give up that draft pick for the bust Reinhart.

I've been calling reinhart a bust for a few years prior to that trade.

This is fair, and I was one of those fans. Which admittedly makes me a bit bias here.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

I am not sure how after not even 1 full season post draft, you can say that any pick makes any other pick look bad. that does not compute.

 

[HenriquesJawLine]

Zacha plays an NHL game, he could rip a one timer past Lundqvist tomorrow if he needed to. These smaller guys will have a bigger adjustment period to the next level. They won't be able to dangle through 3 defenders and roof a backhander. Matt Harvey was a high pick but put up mediocre numbers in the minors. However he had the size and arm to be an elite pitcher. I see Zacha the same way.

 

[Edmonton East]

I am not sure how after not even 1 full season post draft, you can say that any pick makes any other pick look bad. that does not compute.

Sure it does. By that logic, how do you evaluate anything at current state?

Again, never said he is a bust or anything even remotely close to that. But I am disappointed with his overall play this season relative to my expectations. Maybe my expectations were too high. I don't know. I thought Zacha was gonna light the world on fire once Konecny came on over, and only the latter has. My concern with Zacha has ALWAYS been (dating back to before the draft) that he doesn't utilize his teammates well. Instead he plays an isolated style, which I am (and was) concerned will not translate to the NHL. My other concern was he his often caught flat footed when the other team has the puck. Last season it was chalked up to adjusting to the NA game. Okay, fine, but he has continued to take the same minors this season. The most important point out of all this back and forth, is many people expect Zacha in the NHL next season. His current performance does not indicate he is ready from my perspective.

To the other poster that indicated they thought Zacha had a lot of primary assists: anyone know of a site that tracks this info for the OHL? Curious about a few players.

 

[Feed Me A Stray Cat]

Sure it does. By that logic, how do you evaluate anything at current state?

Again, never said he is a bust or anything even remotely close to that. But I am disappointed with his overall play this season relative to my expectations. Maybe my expectations were too high. I don't know. I thought Zacha was gonna light the world on fire once Konecny came on over, and only the latter has. My concern with Zacha has ALWAYS been (dating back to before the draft) that he doesn't utilize his teammates well. Instead he plays an isolated style, which I am (and was) concerned will not translate to the NHL. My other concern was he his often caught flat footed when the other team has the puck. Last season it was chalked up to adjusting to the NA game. Okay, fine, but he has continued to take the same minors this season. The most important point out of all this back and forth, is many people expect Zacha in the NHL next season. His current performance does not indicate he is ready from my perspective.

To the other poster that indicated they thought Zacha had a lot of primary assists: anyone know of a site that tracks this info for the OHL? Curious about a few players.

http://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2016/2/9/10947830/new-jersey-devils-prospect-update-2-9-16

I'm not sure where these were sourced from, but earlier in the week Zacha had 23 total assists with 15 primary, which is a solid 65% primary assist ratio. Compare that to someone like Speers, who while having a good season, has 18 primary assists out of 35 total assists (51%).

 

[New Jersey Devils]

Seems to me he's having a pretty good season so far

 

[Better Call Sal]

I wanted Barzal as badly as anyone, but I don't think comparing him with Zacha is exactly fair. They're two completely different types of players. Rantanen would be the best comparable going forward in my opinion, and Rantanen did nothing of note in the NHL while having a good year in the AHL though he's a few months older than Zacha.

Zacha is playing on a terrible team where he was the lone offensive star (may be why he relied on himself too much) until Konecny arrived and he's playing at a solid PPG clip. I'm not going to fault anyone who questions whether it will work out or not, but I don't think it's fair to say he's not performing to expectations. He's meeting my expectations at the very least.

 

[Triumph]

http://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2016/2/9/10947830/new-jersey-devils-prospect-update-2-9-16

I'm not sure where these were sourced from, but earlier in the week Zacha had 23 total assists with 15 primary, which is a solid 65% primary assist ratio. Compare that to someone like Speers, who while having a good season, has 18 primary assists out of 35 total assists (51%).

My guess is that it was just counted by hand, Franken keeps a great season long count of all the prospect stuff.

I wouldn't call Zacha's season disappointing yet, but his shots on goal numbers aren't where I'd like them to be, and he takes way too many penalties.

 

[NJDevs26]

Keep this about Zacha and the personal digs out of it

 

[The Devil In I]

Whole lotta misinformation going on here.

"Terrible team" - 7th best win percentage in a 20 team league
"Terrible offensive team" - 7th highest GF total in the league

He may not have had another superstar to play with until Konecny arrived (which has done nothing to spark his offensive numbers despite Konecny lighting it up), but he's not playing with absolute crap out there. And either way, if he was truly a top end player he would be able to get the best out of his teammates. But instead he's a very physically talented player with bad offensive vision. It's a giant red flag when you see scouts saying stuff like "great physical tools, but does he have the hockey sense to put it all together" like they were pre-draft last year. And so far they're dead on.

 

[Zippy316]

I think I remember looking mid-season that Zacha has a similar percentage of points on his teams goals as the guys like Marner who were dominating the league points wise.

The thing with Zacha is his package of size, speed, and skill is incredible. I honestly think he is going to be the next Kovalchuk with the way people complain about him not using his teammates. He reminds me of him a lot in the way he plays.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

Of our posters, I have the impression that thethinglonger watches Zacha the most, and thethinglonger's post about Zacha have been largely positive. I'm not worried or disappointed about Zacha since most of those who watch him seem to feel that he has done well, and I have only see stats and highlights, so I'm mostly reliant on the informed opinions of others.

 

[DerekDevils30]

Zacha is a good prospect, no doubt about it. Guys like Kyle Connor, Rantanen and Barzal makes him look like a bad pick at 6th overall, though.

Why? Because they're producing as kids? Wait until these players reach the NHL. Zacha's size and playing style is conducive to success as a power forward at the NHL level. I hope he reaches his potential.