The Devils suffered a tremendous blow with only a month to go until the start of the preseason, as center Travis Zajac tore his left Achilles tendon while training and will miss the beginning of the regular season.

Zajac suffered the injury Wednesday while doing plyometrics in his native Winnipeg and underwent surgery today. He was the Devils' third-leading scorer last season with 44 points.

The surgery was successful, the team said, and it will take roughly three months until he will be ready to play in an NHL game.

"Ten weeks, he’ll be skating," general manager Lou Lamoriello said. "It’ll take a little under three months before he’s in the lineup."

Lamoriello said that the Devils will attempt to replace Zajac internally.

"We’ll certainly give every opportunity to our younger players," he said. "And we’ll just see how training camp goes and how our coaches look at it."

The Devils will start training camp next month and begin their preseason schedule Sept. 21 against the Rangers. The regular season will begin Oct. 8 as they host Flyers at Prudential Center.

Mike Vorkunov: mvorkunov@starledger.com