Pavel Zacha is looking more and more like a steal for the Bruins
Pavel Zacha had plenty to be happy about on Jan. 14.
Just 42 games into his stint with the Bruins, Boston opted to hand Zacha a new contract. After agreeing to a one-year, $3.5 million deal with the B’s back in August, Zacha inked a four-year, $19 million extension set to run through 2027.
After an unceremonious ending to his tenure in New Jersey, Zacha found stability, security, and a nice pay bump in his new home.
But he was far from content.
“When I got the news that I was going to be traded here in the summer, I was hoping that I was going to show myself and will be able to be here for a long time and I’m happy that it happened,” Zacha said shortly after signing his new contract. “It’s a start. It’s my first season and I have to prove myself and show why I’m here and why I’m going to be here for a longer time.”
So far, the Czech forward has rewarded Don Sweeney and the Bruins for the faith they’ve shown in him.
Since putting pen to paper on his four-year extension, Zacha has been a top-six force for the Bruins. In 11 games since that contract was announced, Zacha has scored seven goals and posted 12 points.
Zacha’s strong play helped Boston avoid its fifth loss in its last six games on Tuesday night in Dallas.
With the Stars clinging to a one-goal lead midway through the third period, Zacha gave Boston new life. After taking a pass from Brandon Carlo, Zacha rifled a puck past Jake Oettinger’s glove to force overtime (and subsequently send a luxury box full of Bruins siblings into a frenzy).
Pavel Zacha snaps one past Jake Oettinger.
2-2 game. pic.twitter.com/E9trTd4xga
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) February 15, 2023
Zacha was not done. After Boston killed off a Stars power play in the extra frame, Zacha evaded a check from Wyatt Johnston and weaved his way through the neutral zone with the puck on his stick.
Just seconds after Zacha carried the biscuit across the offensive blue line, David Pastrnak blasted home a feed from Charlie McAvoy to secure the dramatic comeback victory.
“We kept coming, especially in the third period,” Zacha said. “We played great overall, playing it simple in the neutral zone, trying to get chances there. You can see the depth in our team, blocking shots in the end, great penalty kill today. Just overall a good game for us and a big win.”
Zacha to McAvoy to Pastrnak is one of this team’s goals of the year. pic.twitter.com/vktN87Lhr5
— matt porter (@mattyports) February 15, 2023
With his latest two-point performance, Zacha is now up to 37 points (12 goals, 25 assists) in 53 games with Boston. He’s already surpassed his previous career-high for points in a season (36 points over 70 games in 2021-22.).
A foundation of star talent featuring the likes of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, Pastrnak, McAvoy, and others is the primary cause for Boston’s latest contention window.
But for all of the discourse surrounding Sweeney and his tenure as Boston’s general manager, he has supplemented that core by trading for multiple key contributors, often by way of very lopsided deals.
Players like Zacha, Charlie Coyle, Hampus Lindholm, and Taylor Hall have all played major roles on this 40-8-5 Bruins squad. And with all four locked into long-term deals, they figure to be part of the next foundation in the inevitable post-Bergeron era.
And to acquire those four mainstays, Sweeney only had to surrender:
Erik Haula
Ryan Donato
Anders Bjork
Urho Vaakanainen
John Moore
One first-round pick
Three second-round picks
One fourth-round pick
That’s pretty tremendous value, given the tangible production and minutes that those four account for on this roster.
But given Zacha’s age, versatility, cohesion with David Pastrnak/David Krejci, and especially his offensive surge, it’s hard not to tab Boston’s one-for-one swap of Zacha for Haula as one of Sweeney’s best moves yet.
Haula performed admirably last season as Boston’s temporary stopgap at second-line center before running out of steam in the playoffs. But the journeyman was never expected to be a long-term fixture for the B’s.
By rolling the dice on Zacha, Sweeney injected a younger player into Boston’s lineup with plenty of untapped potential.
Even if he didn’t take a major step forward, Zacha would have been cut from the same cloth as Haula – a useful middle-six asset capable of netting you around 15 goals and 35-plus points, year in and year out.
With 29 games left on the regular-season docket, Zacha needs just seven more points to reach Haula’s entire scoring output from last season. While Haula is on pace for six goals and 36 points in his first season with the Devils, Zacha is currently projected to cap his first year in Boston with 19 goals and 57 points.
And with Zacha only accounting for a $4.75 million annual cap hit moving forward, that contract has a good chance of falling below market value if he can continue to hover around the 50-point threshold in the years ahead.
“ was outstanding all night,” Jim Montgomery said of his winger following Tuesday’s win. “He took pucks to hard areas. The goal was great, but he had a couple of plays where he was taking it to the net, and Oettinger made really good saves on him. He was dangerous all night long. He’s one of our main penalty killers, and he’s a big part of what they were able to do tonight.”
Once viewed as a versatile cog capable of moving up and down the lineup, Zacha has settled into a regular top-six spot next to his fellow countrymen in Pastrnak and Krejci.
In the 275:31 of 5v5 ice time that the “Czeching Line” has logged this season, Boston has outscored opponents, 20-11. In their last 20 games, they have held a 14-3 advantage in goals scored.
That O-zone chemistry has been so effective, it prompted Montgomery to slot a former Hart Trophy winner in Taylor Hall down to the third line.
Sweeney and the Bruins wouldn’t have crafted a long-term deal for Zacha if they didn’t think the forward had the ability to positively impact this roster.
But so far, Zacha has gone above and beyond what many many expected of the former first-round pick. And he still has more room to grow.
“Playing with the players that I do and getting the opportunity, the minutes that I play and with great players, it’s fun to play this season,” Zacha said. “Just trying to get better every year that I can.”
https://besteestores.com/pavel-zacha-is-looking-more-and-more-like-a-steal-for-the-bruins/
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