With Brad Marchand set to miss approximately the first two months of the season, someone else will get the rare opportunity to play on Patrice Bergeron’s left wing for an extended stretch of time.
Things could change between now and opening night, but the first person to get that shot will be the newest Bruin: Pavel Zacha. New coach Jim Montgomery revealed that was his plan a few weeks ago when he joined Gresh & Keefe during the WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon.
Jake DeBrusk addresses his rescinded trade request
One thing Zacha knows he’s going to have to do to make the most of this shot is use his… well, shot. Zacha has a good shot. It was considered one of his biggest strengths when the New Jersey Devils drafted him sixth overall in 2015. It’s why the Devils often lined him up in one-timer positions on the power play. His career shooting percentage of 10.7% is above league average (generally around 9%).
The problem with Zacha’s shot isn’t quality; it’s quantity. Prior to last year, Zacha had never taken more than 112 shots in a season, averaging just over 1.5 per game. He jumped up to a career-high 148 last year, but that was still just a little over two per game.
A lot of those, however, came from the aforementioned power-play designs that funneled pucks toward him. Zacha led the Devils with 13.05 shots per 60 minutes on the man advantage. At 5-on-5, however, he ranked ninth among qualified Devils forwards with 6.51 shots per 60.
Clearly, there’s a disconnect there. If someone has a good enough shot that you’re molding your power play around it, presumably you would also want that player shooting a bunch at even strength.
And the Bruins do. Bergeron revealed Monday that Zacha wants to shoot more, and Zacha said Bergeron also wants him to shoot more.
“He’s a great player. He’s a very smart player,” Bergeron said of Zacha. “I think that’s something I knew even before he came in. He plays the game the right way and he’s always well positioned. I think he’s got a great shot, and even from talking to him, he wants to become a bit of a shoot-first mentality a little bit more than what he’s had in the past.”
Zacha said he spent time this offseason watching video from last year to identify situations where he could have or should have shot but didn’t. He knows he will get more of those opportunities playing next to a center as good as Bergeron.
“I think it’s something that, especially now playing with him or playing around guys like that, trying to shoot a little more pucks, trying to change the mindset, watching the videos of last season when I had the opportunities to do that,” Zacha said.
“It’s something I was trying to focus on, especially on the video, trying to get it in my mind that when I’m playing with players like that, I’m gonna have more opportunities to be in shooting situations and shoot more pucks. That’s something he wants me to do, too, so I’ll focus on it even more going forward now that I’m practicing and playing with him. So yeah, I’m excited for that.”
Zacha, a center by nature who has played plenty of wing in the NHL, said during his introductory press conference this summer that Bergeron was one of the players he tries to model his game on. Now seeing Bergeron up close and getting to know him -- including some 1-on-1 conversations -- Zacha says he is even more impressed by Bergeron’s approach and can’t help but be motivated to try to match his work ethic.
“Just seeing him, the motivation he has coming into the season, just how hard he worked over the summer to show the kind of player he is, it’s something I haven’t seen a lot the last couple seasons,” Zacha said. “What he’s done already and having the motivation he has, it’s impressive. I think it just pushes everyone around him to work a little bit harder. That’s something good captains do.”
The Bruins believe the 25-year-old Zacha still has more offensive upside than he showed in New Jersey, where his career high was 36 points. Zacha believes that as well. He’ll get a shot to show it playing in the Bruins’ top six for at least a couple months, and showing off his shot would be a good place to start.
Related
