"I was playing with Patrik Elias and Langenbrunner," Zajac recalled. "I couldn't believe it, actually. We ended up winning that game, 4-0 if I remember that game correctly. The first couple of weeks you're just on cloud-nine with just being in the pro-environment and around some of these Hall of Famers. You kind of take it for granted then, but looking back on it, it was pretty special."
The Devils 2004 first-round, 20th overall, draft selection is the only member of that 2006-07 opening squad that remains on the Devils current roster.
Fast forward to February 19, 2019, and it is 900 regular season games later for the Devils life-long center.
"I didn't ever dream [I'd get to 900 games]," Zajac reminisced. "Obviously it was always my dream to play in the NHL and to get the chance. You want to make the most of it, not take it for granted. Every day you want to keep getting better, come to the rink with a good attitude, be a good teammate and compete. That's the thing we all love, the competition aspect of it. I still have that desire to play."
As New Jersey host Pittsburgh on Tuesday night, Zajac will suit up in the uniform he has spent a career wearing, representing the New Jersey Devils with pride - an organization that has helped him develop into the player and person that he is today.
"I owe a lot to this organization," Zajac said. "From the start, they believed in me and helped me grow into a professional hockey player and that's been my dream all along. I've been very fortunate to have some people who have had liked me as a player and it's allowed me to play here for as long as I have. I feel good and want to keep it going."
Over his career, Zajac has scored 495 regular season points which include 180 goals, all while going up against some of the NHL's stiffest competition, eating up difficult minutes shutting down opponent's top lines.
For head coach John Hynes, currently, in the midst of his fourth season coaching Zajac and the Devils, Hynes sees having Zajac around his locker room as an invaluable asset.
"When you talk about an excellent hockey player and even better person, that's what Travis is," Hynes said. "You look at a guy like him, before [I] got here, he's seen so many coaches. So many styles of plays, how things are done, he's a great resource that way. He's also such a smart hockey player that guys like him and Andy Greene - like Patrik Elias when he was here - these guys have seen and been around so much, it's nice to get feedback from them on the team, what's going on and how we're doing things. He's been a huge value that way too."
And so, the Devils will host the Pittsburgh Penguins in a fourth and final matchup this season when the puck drops just after 7 p.m. It will be the 64th time Zajac has faced the Penguins in his career, prior to Tuesday nights matchup the Winnipeg, Manitoba native has scored 45 regular season points against Pittsburgh, including a four-point night earlier this season. His 45 regular season points against the Penguins is the most point he has versus any given team in his career.
Backstopping New Jersey will be Keith Kinkaid, who has an undefeated 3-0-0 record against the Penguins this season, while Blake Coleman will return to the Devils line after missing the last four games due to injury. Coleman's return bumps Kurtis Gabriel from the lineup, who will sit as a healthy scratch.
New Jersey Devils Projected Lineup Versus Pittsburgh Penguins
Johansson-Hischier-Bratt
Wood-Zajac-Palmieri
Agostino-Coleman-Anderson
Seney-Rooney-Stafford
Greene-Severson
Mueller-Gryba
Butcher-Lovejoy
Kinkaid
Schneider
