The Devils would like to have avoided salary arbitration with center Travis Zajac, but that is now unlikely.
Zajac and general manager Lou Lamoriello are headed for Friday's arbitration hearing, a process that is often nasty. "We'll have as many conversations as are necessary, but right now it's leaning toward arbitration," Lamoriello said Monday. "It's hard to explain. At this moment there is nothing, although there is no animosity whatsoever."
Lamoriello said he hasn't decided whether the team will ask the arbitrator for a one or two-year deal in the hearing.
"We won't decide that until the last minute," the GM said.
Goalie Kevin Weekes, an unrestricted free agent, will not be coming back. Although Lamoriello said when the club signed Yann Danis that Weekes might still be in the picture, that is no longer the case.
"We've had a very lengthy discussion," Lamoriello said. "I think he'll be going in a different direction."
* * *
Cory Murphy, the defenseman signed by the Devils, is likely to play in Lowell (AHL) next season, but will get a chance to make the NHL team.
"He's a very skilled power play specialist," Lamoriello said. "We'll have to see him here."
* * *
Although Scott Stevens is now on the Devils' coaching staff and will have an increased role next season, he will not be behind the bench and isn't likely to travel with the club.
"None of that has been talked about," Lamoriello said.
However, Chris Terreri will do quite a bit of traveling as fellow goalie coach Jacques Caron cuts back on his duties.
In addition to Terreri and Caron splitting the goalie coach duties, here is the coaching staff for the 2009-10 season: Head coach Jacques Lemaire, bench coach Mario Tremblay and assistant coaches Tommy Albelin and Stevens.
At Lowell, John MacLean will be the head coach with Kevin Dean as his assistant.