The New Jersey Devils have signed 2015 1st round draft pick (6th overall) Pavel Zacha to a three-year, entry-level contract, the team announced on Tuesday. The team also disclosed the financial terms (good work guys!), giving the contract an AAV of $925,000.
War on Ice dug a little deeper into the financial details, noting that Zacha’s deal “has max $850k per season in A performance bonuses. Each category can get up to $212.5K.”
There was delay in getting Zacha signed, with reports indicating that negotiations were primarily focused on how to arrange his bonuses, which wound up including the maximum in A performance bonuses, something that former GM Lou Lamoriello never allowed entry-level contracts to carry. Those negotiations kept Zacha out of the Czech evaluation camp for the 2016 World Juniors, for fear of getting injured and having to delay the contract further.
https://twitter.com/NHLDevils/status/631148262783905792
The good news for Zacha is that he signed before the August 15 deadline, which would have kept him out of the NHL next season, though that far from guarantees that he will play in the NHL.
That deadline was due to Zacha still being under contract with Liberec in the Czech Extraliga, even though he played for the Sarnia Sting in the OHL last season. Similarly, as noted earlier in the summer by The Record’s Tom Gulitti, if Zacha plays in the NHL next season the Devils or Zacha will need to pay a $100,000 transfer fee to Liberec because he was signed after the July 15 deadline that would allow for a free transfer.