Zajac's agent: Talks with Devils have been "very positive", but filing for arbitration was "necessary"

The agent for restricted free agent center Travis Zajac said today that contract talks with the Devils have been "very positive", but, because the sides have not been able to reach an agreement so far, they decided to exercise their right to file for salary arbitration before Sunday's 5 p.m. deadline.

That doesn't mean they won't continue to talk to Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello leading up to the hearing and possibly sign with the team before one takes place, though.

"We've had positive talks with Devils' management, several positive talks and I'm sure we'll continue to communicate," Zajac's agent Kurt Overhardt said. "We just look at it as it's obviously systemic, pursuant to the CBA, and we just thought it was necessary. We had the right and if we didn't file, the club had the right (to file for arbitration). I can't speculate whether they would filed if we didn't, but we just thought it was the appropriate thing to do because we had not reached an accord, yet.

"We'll keep trying to reach an agreement and if not, the arbitration process is pretty straight forward. It's very business-like. Neither side looks at the arbitration process as anything adversarial whatsoever. It is what it is. The good news for the player and the club is it's pretty expeditious because we'll know within less than a month."

The date for the hearing is expected to be announced before the end of the week. It will take place in Toronto between July 20 and Aug. 4. Overhardt said the player is required to attend the hearing.

Overhardt would not discuss specifics of the negotiations. When asked, he did say that some of the signings of other restricted free agents this off-season, "have had an impact", but would not go further than that. 

"The talks have been very positive," he said. "I think we've had some great dialogue and I think both sides are motivated to continue to do that."

***

In case you missed it earlier, I posted in the comments section of one of the posts below that the numbers on the contract Ilkka Pikkarainen signed last week were one year for $500,000, which is the league minimum salary.

Comments

[Alien Life Form]

Sounds like good news... I think.

[Vishal]

There, now quiet.

[Jeff O.]

It sounds pretty good to me.

[Robbie]

TG is the rookie camp going to be open to the public?

[SICKANDTIRED]

what a joke lou is.......
He really thinks staying 10 million under the cap, and letting rolsten center Elias and Bergsfor is going to work?
We ARE FU#$KED
He is a fu#4king sucker for ever letting sutter control lou and this orginization like a puppet, bullsh#$tting around and wasting our last season,
I know for a fact that Sutter would have never been able to leave if he had success this year, and after looking at our 200 0 and 2003 teams,
We were unbelievably capable of winning the cup this year, it hurts because we had the talent and the skill, and our season came down to a HORRIBLE coached game seven that had all the wrong players out at the wrong times,
and losing in the first round gave sutter an easy exit for him..
WHAT A JOKE LOU IS, HE ALLOWED SUTTER TO USE THE CRAP OUT OF HIM AND THE DEVILS ORGANIZATION,
JUST TO EASE HIS WAY INTO THE NHL, AND ONCE HE WAS DONE WITH IS "INTERNSHIP" HERE, HE GOT HIS EASY TICKET OUT OF TOWN, LEAVING US HIGH AND DRY

Now, lou has no coach, and no player wants to sign with us, we have no stablilty and I FEEL SO BAD FOR ELIAS, who deserved a top line center to spark this team into an offensive frenzy, but instead he got stuck with a dead wieght, and now next year elias has to carry rolsten who cant play center for the life of him, and bergsfor, a rookie who is so wet behind the ears, he should be wearing a shower cap on the ice -

Lou with 10 mil under the cap, has a chance to fill the team with not just temp- replacements, but
real players
We had a chance to put a cup team together again, forget all that rebuilding crap, and now
its looking officially bogus...
and if you think adding a center at the trade deadline will give our 2nd line chemistry to play well in the post you guys are dumb as wood..
We are lucking to make in in the top 10 ....with out the addition of a TOP center, and 25plus scoring winger we are done....
every team around us has gotten younger and more offensively stronger...
and even the Ducks managed to fill their roster with 6 (30 goal scorers) and 4 of them are in their twenties..
Our best player parise is the only guy in his 20's, and the rest of our BEST OFFENSIVE PLAYERS
are getting older fast, and in no way can we depend on 37 year old Rolsten to score more goals then he has ever done just to replace gionta's hole..
AND WE ALL KNOW IF ROLLIE PLAYS CENTER TO ELIAS, YOU CAN MARK HIM DOWN FOR 15 GOALS AT THE MAX...IT WILL BE TRUE WASTE OF HIS POTENTIAL,
AND WE ALL KNOW IF YOU PUT A THIRD RATE CENTER( WHICH IS ALL THATS LEFT) IN BETWEEN ROLLIE( WHO IS ALREADY OLDER AND SLOWER) WITH A STREAKY ELIAS, AND WE WILL GET A 2ND LINE THAT WILL HAVE NO DOMINANT PLAY , AND WILL ADD EVEN MORE PRESSURE TO THE ZZPOP LINE, WHICH WE ALL KNOW HAD CRASHED AND BURNED IN THE POST SEASON BECAUSE THEY JUST COULDNT HANDLE THE LOAD, AND THEY SHOULDNT! YOU CANT WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP WITH A ONE LINE TEAM, AND THAT IS OFFICIALLY WHAT WE HAVE BECOME,

ITS OFFICIAL, THERE IS NO CENTER AVAILABLE THAT IS GOOD ENOUGH TO MAKE A MAJOR IMPACT, AND IF YOU THINK OUR PROSPECTS WILL CONTRIBUTE, YES THEY WILL, IN 4 YEARS..ITS A SHAME THAT LOU HAD 5 FUC#ING YEARS TO REBUILD AND PUT THE PIECES TOGETHER FOR A LAST CHAMPIONSHIP FOR MARTY!!!

LOU IS SO OLD HE BLEW IT, HE WAITED UNTIL FOR OUR TEAM TO COMPLETLY FALL INTO RUBBLE BEFORE MAKING A MOVE...HE SHOULD HAVE SCENE THIS COMING AS SOON AS GOMEZ LEFT, AND KNOWING ALL OUR FREE AGENTS OVER THE YEARS, AND WITH A HEAD COACH CRYING EVERY DAY..AND LOU WAITED AND WAITED UNTIL IT ALL COLLAPSED..

NOW IN ONE SEASON WE NEED A TOP CENTER, WINGER, RESIGNING DMEN FOR NEXT YEAR,
10 MILL UNDER THE CAP, AND NOW HE THINKS MAKING ALL THESE LAST MINUTE BS SIGNINGS OF UNPROVEN PLAYERS ARE GONNA HELP, AND JUST LIKE A SLICK SNAKE, HE TWISTS IT ALL AROUND TO CALL IT " A NEW FACE " FOR THE DEVILS, WHEN ALL IT IS IS A LOUSY ATTEMPT TO STAY A FLOAT,

[Pat]

It sounds like he's looking for closer to $4M and Lou is probably trying to get him closer to $3M.

[Alien Life Form]

I'm tired of these motherf***ing snakes on this motherf***ing plane?

[TG]

Robbie: I don't think so, but I have not been told that for certain. I'm still waiting to find out what time the development camp begins on Monday and what players will be attending. I hope to have that info before the end of the week, but will settle for them naming a coach first if given the choice.

[SteveStevens]

Calm down there Billy Mays.

[Jeff O.]

Too soon, SteveStevens, too soon.

[steve]

hahahaha sickandtired... probably the dumbest thing I ever read.

[Pearl Jammed]

wow who pooped in your cheerios this morning?

[Shimmy]

@sickandtired...what did you expect? Lou to re-sign everyone and sign gaborik,ohlund, koivu, bouwmeester or whoeever else will make u happy? i told everyone this was going to happen read my posts from 6-30...i didnt expect shanny and zajac to not be resigned yet, but whatever...teams going no where unless bigg trades are made

[mikennj]

new face for the devils is some ahl retread who was dangled before us like a carrot on a stick only to be.........some scrub who couldn't crack the lineup five years ago. great move lou can't wait to see two lines of ahl'ers and borderline fourth line players play dump and chase and hope the other team don't score on them for twenty minutes a night. yeah we are ready to compete with the pens caps and boston.

[Alien Life Form]

SteveStevens, it seemed more like a Samuel "I Can't Act Without Yelling" Jackson post than a Billy Mays since Billy had more catchy things to say. Also he had rhymes in his infomercials.

[Maxwell]

I can't read SICKANDTIRED's post. All caps = evil.

Sounds like even TG is getting a little tired about Lou's 'patience'. Stephane Richer = coach, Brad Boyes = new 2nd line C.

[mikennj]

rebuild now. trade marty martin oduya rolston elias because this roster is going nowhere this year.

[njdevil1229]

TG, any word on Lou pursuing any other unrestricted free agents currently available (ie. afinogenov, kotalik, comrie)? Also, would he at all consider a trade for a restricted free agent like Kessel or Jack Johnson (Johnson's name has been out there as trade bait)?

[nnjrules]

TG,
When you wrote for the rangers, what are some of the different things done as an orginization with the devils? Like pro' and cons. I don't want you to bash either side, just wanna see how life is covering other teams let alone rivals? I'm sure life covering the devils and trying to get info is like getting the truth from our govt. Where as the rangers always spending crazy money may seems more fun for a person covering them.

[MattP]

I was just thinking. It sounds worse than it is, but as of right now 25% of the roster from last season is gone....just a fun fact.

[SICKANDTIRED]

But you still read it

HA HA HA HA HA

[ku chris]

Robert Lang for one year... do it Lou.

[Mose]

Chicago is like 4 mill over the cap right now....Would love to see if we could pluck one of their young D-men away, or even Campbell if we could get rid of Zubrus in the deal.

[Merms]

Robert Lang? wtf?

Mose, I like the idea of trading with Chicago but we would have to trade prospects/draft picks so it doesnt work well for us.

[Mose]

Merms - I'd definitely trade prospects/picks for a proven commodity on the blue line like Keith or Barker. You wouldn't?