I along with every other Sabres and Devils fan on here it seems would do McCabe for Wood trade today. I've never seen a proposal so universally agreed upon by both sides on here.
Going back a ways, I think Ottawa/Vancouver fans agreed on a Peter Schaefer for Sami Salo trade before it happened in real life.
For some NJ fans perspective on here.. I admittedly don't watch the Devils often.. what are your thoughts on Zacha and why he's struggled? Could he be available via trade also?
His oZS% has slowly gone down every year since he started in the NHL and his dZS% has gone up... is that because the NJ top-6 has improved with Hischier, Hall and now Hughes so he's been bumped down the lineup, or is his ceiling just limited offensively?
At least for me, Zacha has lacked the offensive hockey sense to stick around in the top 6 as a center. With the Hughes injury, he's gotten another chance to center Hall so we'll see if he can do anything with the temporary audition. Defensively he's been fine, I just don't know if he's gonna be good enough playmaker. Even pre-draft, there was some thought that Zacha's offensive skillset (decent speed/shot) might be best suited as a winger.
Earlier in the season he got a few games flanking Hughes (and also to take draws as Hughes was having his expected struggles at the dot) but that experiment only last a couple games and Zacha found himself down on the depth chart again. Since they were sheltering Hughes early on, I'd imagine that the Zajac/Zacha lines got the majority of defensive zone draws. In some games, Zacha's been centering guys like Miles Wood and John Hayden which isn't exactly a recipe for offensive output.
I like to think there's still some untapped potential, but the ceiling has been gradually dropping.
