Official: New Jersey Devils Resigned Travis Zajac to a 4 Year, $3.887/Year Cap Hit Deal

The Devils do not need to worry about arbitration this summer as Tom Gulitti has reported that the New Jersey Devils resigned Travis Zajac to a 4 year, $15.55 million deal, breaking down his salary by season. This is a cap hit of approximately $3,887,500 as Zajac's salary will increase as such:

This deal places Zajac with the fourth highest cap hit among the Devils roster. Truth be told, I'm a little surprised that Zajac got this much money given what David Krecji got back in June. Though if Zajac can continue to develop off his solid third season in the NHL, then it'll be money very well spent. And I'm sure the fact that Zajac is the team's top center and their only definitive offensive center had to play some role in his new salary structure.

Regardless, I'm very glad the Devils did avoid arbitration given the team's recent history with that. The relationship between Zajac (and his people) should remain solid with the team for the foreseeable future. Given his role on the team and his potential, that they agreed to a deal in advance of arbitration was very important. I love the deal largely for that, despite the money taking me back a bit. Speaking of money, the deal sets up Zajac very well. In addition to having his salary increase by $2.05 million in 4 years, he'll become an unrestricted free agent at age 28 when this contract ends. At that time, he could potentially be in a position to make ludicrious amounts of money. For now, both sides are happy per Gulitti's and Chere's posts reporting the signing. I'm happy with the signing and I imagine most Devils fans are happy about this deal - like the two FanPosts announcing the deal on the side there.

Thanks to Mandmeisterx and Puznik11 for their FanPosts alerting readers to this news in advance. Share your thoughts in the comments. Or least vote in this poll.