He would finish the season with 17 goals and 25 assists; his 42 points were good enough for seventh among NHL rookies, as well as seventh among all Devils players. In the 2007 Stanley Cup playoffs, Zajac scored his first career NHL post-season point with an assist in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against the Tampa Bay Lightning. He would add two more assists in the series, as the Devils would win the series in six games. In Game 1 of the Semifinals against Ottawa, Zajac would score his first career post-season goal; the Senators, however, won the game 5–4. Although Zajac earned an assist on linemate Langenbrunner's overtime goal in Game 2, the Devils were eliminated in five games. Zajac finished tenth in voting for the Calder Memorial Trophy, awarded to the NHL's rookie of the year, and won the Devils' Fan Club award for Rookie of the Year. At the start of Zajac's sophomore season, he was still centering the second line with Zach Parise; Brian Gionta replaced Langenbrunner on right wing while the latter recovered from sports hernia surgery. Zajac scored his first goal of the season in the team's fifth game against the Atlanta Thrashers, a 6–5 Devils win. In October, he was moved up to the top line, centering Gionta and Eliáš, and saw an increase in time on the power play unit. January 2008 was a good month for Zajac – he had a four-game point streak, during which he tied his career high with a three-point game (three assists) against the Flyers. Despite finishing with six multi-point games for the season, he saw an overall drop in production; he finished the season with just 14 goals and 20 assists. He had one assist in five playoff games as the Devils were eliminated in the first round by the rival New York Rangers. Heading into the 2008–09 season, the ZZ Pop line was the Devils' top line, making Zajac the team's number one centre. He responded well to the role, crediting the chemistry he had with Parise and Langenbrunner as the reason for a boost in confidence. In particular, he cited his relationship with Parise, who also attended North Dakota, as helpful to his game; he felt Parise was a "big brother." In his only shootout attempt of the season, he scored the game-winning goal against the Flyers on December 21, and