The New Jersey Devils forward revealed he was quite a tiger tamer on a conference call Tuesday then unveiled a photo of himself holding a wild animal as a child.
"My mom had a picture of me ... and I remembered this picture when my wife and I were watching the ["Tiger King" Netflix] documentary," Zajac said. "I was posed with a tiger and I asked my mom to send it to me.
"I sent it to my wife and told her, 'Look, I'm the tiger king.'"
Zajac said he was 2 or 3 years old at the time the photo with the tiger was taken.
"I asked my mom, 'How did this happen?' and she said they used to bring animals out back home (in Winnipeg) ... it was sedated at the time, so she said, 'You were safe,'" Zajac said. "My mom told me that they stopped doing it after a while and I was like, "Yeah, no kidding.'"
Zajac and his wife, Nikki, who are living at their New Jersey home with their three children during the NHL pause due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus, finished the seven-part, true-crime documentary series about Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park owner Joe Exotic "in a couple days" and called it one of the most entertaining shows he's seen.
"That's one of the best shows I've ever seen ... I'm not gonna lie," Zajac said. "It was pretty entertaining; I can't believe it actually was real life."
In addition to binge-watching shows, Zajac has been busy helping out around the house.
"It's kind of been a blessing to have nearly this much time being around the kids and seeing them grow and develop and it's nice not having to run around, take them to different activities and sports while being under the same roof," Zajac said. "Getting the kids to not fight with each other ... now that's been the biggest battle."
