Player Discussion Mats Zuccarello Appreciation Thread

[Bob Richards]

Every time we trade beloved players there's usually some volume of "I AM DOEN!!1!1" posts and it's generally never upheld lol.

 

[Kaapo Cabana]

I think I'm done with this team. Trading Zuccarello - and believe me, he won't return - was the final nail in the coffin. All the albatrosses. All the **** trades. ALWAYS ditching the quality pieces for nothing, keeping the trash. I'm so done. What a waste of Lundqvist's career to end up in freaking NYR. I think even NYI would've been better, honestly. At least they had another star player. Imagine if Lundqvist was lucky enough to end up in a somewhat competent franchise. Nope.

I think I formally give up on following NYR as a team now. So, have a great time in the incompetent martyrdom, the Edmonton way of tanking, destroying all winning culture for a long time. I will go back to following interesting players, as I did once 20 years ago. No specific team allegiance.

Maybe you win a cup in 70 years, before our civilization crumbles. NYR = the Murican incompetence in the same scenario as Toronto. And that's saying something, because they've been pathetic. Pathetic. That's my overall statement of the NYR after following them for almost 15 years. And then they even improved from the pre-salary cap era, where I was even distained as a kid for them being so awful.

If this is true, you were never a NYR fan in the first place.

nothing of value was lost today.

 

[Jabroni]

This one hits you right in the heart:

 

[Bob Richards]

Was reminded of this play lol

 

[Ori]

Was reminded of this play lol

That is so Rangers and alone with a goalie, but why can`t he finish it? hehe.

 

[Machinehead]

It really happened..... Strange to see him in another jersey....

My president's black and my undershirt is blue.

 

[Harbour Dog]

Was reminded of this play lol

I wanted to post this too, but I had no idea how to find it.

A testament to the level that he processes the game at compared to most other players.

 

[duhmetreE]

This is why I think he should be re-signed. He's a vet that will help on and off the ice. It's not something you can calculate and measure.

The kids need some form of structure/identity/leadership to walk into. He helps that, I don't know how that's not perceived by all



He had a grown man come to tears.... as if he died.

 

[ReggieDunlop68]

Trade had to be made, but one of my favorite players to wear the jersey since I've been watching. Thanks for all the memories, you'll always be a Ranger in my heart.

Bwahahahaha!

This is a fantastic shot!

Best of luck to Zucc.

 

[Zucc36]

Really feel for him today. What a way to start his Dallas career, with goal + assist, then out for at least 4 weeks with a broken arm/hand. This actually could be his only appearance for the Stars....This really must suck for him.

 

[Player big P]

I said on Friday before he was traded that "There's still time for him to break his arm blocking a shot like he did right before the playoffs a few years back," like as a joke that "Oh that would prevent him from being traded."

I didn't mean it as serious advice.

 

[Jaromir Jagr]

This is why I think he should be re-signed. He's a vet that will help on and off the ice. It's not something you can calculate and measure.

The kids need some form of structure/identity/leadership to walk into. He helps that, I don't know how that's not perceived by all



He had a grown man come to tears.... as if he died.

We have a plethora of vets still on this team, many of which will likely be here next year. Is Zucc the only person on earth who can create an appropriate locker-room environment?

Zucc and Hank were friends for a decade. They went through a lot together. I'm sure he is a fantastic teammate.

I'm not against re-signing him, if the price is right, but let's not act like he is some irreplaceable mentor and leader. This kinda stuff is always significantly overrated by fan bases when it comes to fan favorites.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

I honestly feel them talking contract extension was more about getting a feel for what he would want July 1 than about resigning him. He is a loyal guy, I could see him signing here again or with him injured he might feel he owes some time to Dallas. Either way it could be a win for us.

 

[21]

Another note @Chimp, I wish you were around during the dark ages. A team assembled of veteran mercenaries who signed big contracts and played like horse ****.

No heart. No pride. Just a pathetic display through and through. It was Groundhogs Day here which lasted for years and years.

The Dark Ages changed when Sather tried a different approach to building a team. But he half assed that rebuild and never really surrounded Lundqvist with a great team. His impatience ruined Lundqvists career.

Shestyorkin might be the next Lundqvist here and he’ll likely have the same fate as Lundqvist, unless we stay true to our rebuild. That takes time. And Luck.

If you’re not committed enough as a Rangers fan to stick with this team after 15 years, then good riddance. Go root for the Islanders. And don’t come back here when we’re on top of our game again.

"Interesting" reply, having read a number of quality inputs from @Chimp here I have the highest respect for him and his knowledge. In addition his English is so freaking good I'm not even sure he is Swedish. ,-)

I always tried to be honest with my "love" for certain teams myself.

I simply tend to follow my favorit Swedes, not more complicated than that.

Since Forsberg was the biggest personal favorit of mine I've had some extra love for Colorado but I still cannot be trusted, not at all. ;-) Also following Landeskog, Nemeth and Söderberg from young ages helps a lot right now. Landeskog is such an amazing guy and player, a role model on the same level as Lidström. I also rank Landeskog as the most natural hockeyleader (Captain) ever coming from Sweden, if you ask me no one comes close if comparing personalites and attitude. The nature in Colorado seem to be outstanding and it's most probably a place where I could live.

Was also following Flyers a lot when Renberg was playing for legion of Doom back in 95, I was a huge Flyers fan by then. Legion of Doom for me was the ultimate hockey being played, best line in the world. ;-) I enjoyed following Renberg because I watched him live many times when studying a couple of years at the University in the north part of Sweden (Luleå).

No, I can't be trusted.

I have no idea about @Chimp though.

Lundqvist is definately one of my favorit Swedes all time as well and in addition I love the city of New York.

Finally, a majority of all people in Sweden have relatives in the USA (sometimes distant relatives though), for us having connections and sometimes also feeling emotional about it is not a strange thing. I have several (at least 5-6) confirmed lines with (distant) relatives in the USA myself. I do believe that some Swedes feel more love for certain cities and teams. With this logic most of us should root for Minnesota Wild and Chicago Blackhawks. ;-)

 

[Jauffre]

I think I'm done with this team. Trading Zuccarello - and believe me, he won't return - was the final nail in the coffin. All the albatrosses. All the **** trades. ALWAYS ditching the quality pieces for nothing, keeping the trash. I'm so done. What a waste of Lundqvist's career to end up in freaking NYR. I think even NYI would've been better, honestly. At least they had another star player. Imagine if Lundqvist was lucky enough to end up in a somewhat competent franchise. Nope.

I think I formally give up on following NYR as a team now. So, have a great time in the incompetent martyrdom, the Edmonton way of tanking, destroying all winning culture for a long time. I will go back to following interesting players, as I did once 20 years ago. No specific team allegiance.

Maybe you win a cup in 70 years, before our civilization crumbles. NYR = the Murican incompetence in the same scenario as Toronto. And that's saying something, because they've been pathetic. Pathetic. That's my overall statement of the NYR after following them for almost 15 years. And then they even improved from the pre-salary cap era, where I was even distained as a kid for them being so awful.

 

[Chimpradamus]

Look, this isn't about my personal allegiences to a NHL franchise for whatever reason, this isn't about my statement. I know I'm very harsh, but that's for a specific reason. Of course it tastes distasteful for you who have your sworn allegiance to the NYR, because of geographical or sentimental reasons.

Here's the thing. As a very simple example, take this clip. Hank and Zuccarello talk about their relationship to eachother.


There you have it. Some players are willing to sacrifice alot to win. They are skilled and determined. They put in the sacrifice for a goal. Most players don't have it. You need enough of those characters that can show commitment in a locker room for a team to become successful. Detroit dominated hockey for decades by keeping the philosophy of Yzerman's leadership, carried on by other skilled players. Where is that tradition kept in New York, when all players are trading chips? The entire secondary aspect of a team is completely nullified!

Zuccarello committed 140% to this team. When you have Lundqvist in tears, you know you have played the economic game ahead of the team culture you need to preserve, especially in a rebuild era.

I miss words. When you on one hand talk about the intangibles of Drury as reasons for signing him (total disaster) and then don't talk about real intangibles (Zuccarello), you have an integral problem. I hate incompetence. NYR will always be in the soft part of my heart, but actively being a fan? That would be in the spectrum of disability humor.

I know the internal patience grown for those of you who experienced the dark ages of this team; this is like watching your chest being fired at with a rubber band. But for me, it's unacceptable for a supposedly competent organization to be this terrible. I've extensively followed this team since 2005 and from the upper management standpoint, it has been nothing but total disappointment and disbelief. A drunken monkey with a dart would've made better decisions. Yes, even me. That's a problem.

In retrospective it would've been better for NYR it they wouldn't have drafted Lundqvist to get their hopes up, because the problems of this organization are very, very deep and they wouldn't be solved by a cap hit. They don't... look, you won't win a cup in decades, let's put it that way. No chance. Total morons. NYR management are idiots, they know how to make profit, but they don't know how to outperform other teams, in any way. And if they really tried, I feel sorry for them.

The cup push was subpar (like a glorified Buffalo team for Hasek) and I can't think of a worse rebuild than this, with moronic hip shots and a constant movement of strategy, if they even have any, which I VERY MUCH DOUBT. I've seen none in speaking of decades. Gorton isn't as terrible as $ather, but it's close. Growingly very close. And the owner? Please sell. You're useless as a sports owner. At least he makes profits in the business of agony.

NYR2020+ A rebuild of the dark ages retirement home, with NO winning culture left. Good luck with that. Good luck doing it with overpaid, over the hill mercenaries. NYR tradition.

 

[Loff]

Every goal, every highlight worthy assist:

 

[smoneil]

I always figured it would be the Hank trade/retirement that would lead to the exodus, yet here we are.....

15 years ago, it probably would have been. They likely would have been buyers, trying to squeeze into the playoffs to get Henrik that one more shot at Stanley. This definitely hurts the feels more, but I'm glad they are rebuilding while they still had pieces of value to use as currency. Otherwise, we'd be at least 10 years away from relevance.

Still. Losing Zucc hurts, and I will NOT be upset in the least if he signs back as a FA. There will always be a place at MSG for "Mats Zuccarello Awesome" (anyone remember that early nickname?)

 

[smoneil]

I honestly feel them talking contract extension was more about getting a feel for what he would want July 1 than about resigning him. He is a loyal guy, I could see him signing here again or with him injured he might feel he owes some time to Dallas. Either way it could be a win for us.

I hope so, but I'm worried that the book is closed. There was a piece from a Norwegian reporter that someone shared on here a few days ago that mentioned how Zucc felt a bit disrespected by Quinn when the new coach went to Sweden to meet with Henrik, Fast, and Zibs and didn't extend an invite to Zucc (who was closer to the meeting site than Fast or Zibs). The tone of the article seemed to suggest that Zucc will always love the Rangers fans, but he might be a good bit miffed at the management.

 

[smoneil]

Look, this isn't about my personal allegiences to a NHL franchise for whatever reason, this isn't about my statement. I know I'm very harsh, but that's for a specific reason. Of course it tastes distasteful for you who have your sworn allegiance to the NYR, because of geographical or sentimental reasons.
(Trimmed)
NYR2020+ A rebuild of the dark ages retirement home, with NO winning culture left. Good luck with that. Good luck doing it with overpaid, over the hill mercenaries. NYR tradition.

I get what you're saying. People follow teams for different reasons. I'm a big "Tradition" guy (part of the reason why I am proud of the fact that this team has never finished bottom 5--they may not have the success of some teams, but they don't have the embarrassment-level failure, either). I had a similar difficulty when the Metrostars sold to Red Bull and changed everything about the team. In a lot of ways, things were better, but all of the tradition was gone. It felt like I was supporting an expansion franchise.

I do, however, think that you are over-stating the case. Gorton is doing literally the opposite of what was done in the dark ages. By the time this team is ready to compete for a Cup again, guys like Zucc will be pushing 35-36 years old. Guys like Hayes will be in the right age bracket still, but you can't pay a guy 2C money when he would be a 3c on a contender.

I think Gorton is going about things the right way. He's got a coach who can develop the kids. He's keeping enough vets so that the team can sustain a winning culture. A "winning culture" doesn't mean "winning every night" or even making regular deep runs in the post-season. A winning culture means creating a feeling in that locker room that they have a chance to win every night. Those teams who bottomed out and had multiple bottom 5 finishes lost that. They expected to lose every night. This team never does that.

Zucc can 100% help in continuing that, and I do hope he signs back with us this summer. But that would also mean that the end of his career will likely be playoff free. If he chooses that, I'm happy to have him (it's not like we have a ton of rookies on the wing he'd be blocking). But I also won't be shocked if he wants to have a chance at the Cup in his last few years.

 

[FIRE DRURY]

Look, this isn't about my personal allegiences to a NHL franchise for whatever reason, this isn't about my statement. I know I'm very harsh, but that's for a specific reason. Of course it tastes distasteful for you who have your sworn allegiance to the NYR, because of geographical or sentimental reasons.

Here's the thing. As a very simple example, take this clip. Hank and Zuccarello talk about their relationship to eachother.


There you have it. Some players are willing to sacrifice alot to win. They are skilled and determined. They put in the sacrifice for a goal. Most players don't have it. You need enough of those characters that can show commitment in a locker room for a team to become successful. Detroit dominated hockey for decades by keeping the philosophy of Yzerman's leadership, carried on by other skilled players. Where is that tradition kept in New York, when all players are trading chips? The entire secondary aspect of a team is completely nullified!

Zuccarello committed 140% to this team. When you have Lundqvist in tears, you know you have played the economic game ahead of the team culture you need to preserve, especially in a rebuild era.

I miss words. When you on one hand talk about the intangibles of Drury as reasons for signing him (total disaster) and then don't talk about real intangibles (Zuccarello), you have an integral problem. I hate incompetence. NYR will always be in the soft part of my heart, but actively being a fan? That would be in the spectrum of disability humor.

I know the internal patience grown for those of you who experienced the dark ages of this team; this is like watching your chest being fired at with a rubber band. But for me, it's unacceptable for a supposedly competent organization to be this terrible. I've extensively followed this team since 2005 and from the upper management standpoint, it has been nothing but total disappointment and disbelief. A drunken monkey with a dart would've made better decisions. Yes, even me. That's a problem.

In retrospective it would've been better for NYR it they wouldn't have drafted Lundqvist to get their hopes up, because the problems of this organization are very, very deep and they wouldn't be solved by a cap hit. They don't... look, you won't win a cup in decades, let's put it that way. No chance. Total morons. NYR management are idiots, they know how to make profit, but they don't know how to outperform other teams, in any way. And if they really tried, I feel sorry for them.

The cup push was subpar (like a glorified Buffalo team for Hasek) and I can't think of a worse rebuild than this, with moronic hip shots and a constant movement of strategy, if they even have any, which I VERY MUCH DOUBT. I've seen none in speaking of decades. Gorton isn't as terrible as $ather, but it's close. Growingly very close. And the owner? Please sell. You're useless as a sports owner. At least he makes profits in the business of agony.

NYR2020+ A rebuild of the dark ages retirement home, with NO winning culture left. Good luck with that. Good luck doing it with overpaid, over the hill mercenaries. NYR tradition.

Say what you want about Dolan's negative impact with the Knicks - it doesn't apply here with our Rangers. We're honestly lucky to have him.

They should have drafted Lundqvist. What they shouldn't have done was trade for Jagr and bring in guys like Nylander/Straka to try and stay competitive.

Gorton is doing the opposite of what Sather's doing, but you are comparing him to Slats for some reason. The difference between these guys is literally, Night and Day. Re-signing guys like Hayes and Zucc is exactly what Slats would have done. Look at the way he mismanaged an asset like Yandle.

You sound like a pissed off teenager with a broken Xbox. Relax man. Take some time off these boards and the Rangers and come back when it's draft time when we can start seeing the results of our deadline moves. A rebuild is taking a big step backwards so we can take an even bigger step forwards. You have to be patient though. And you have to learn how to let go of players like Zucc.

 

[Chimpradamus]

I get what you're saying. People follow teams for different reasons. I'm a big "Tradition" guy (part of the reason why I am proud of the fact that this team has never finished bottom 5--they may not have the success of some teams, but they don't have the embarrassment-level failure, either). I had a similar difficulty when the Metrostars sold to Red Bull and changed everything about the team. In a lot of ways, things were better, but all of the tradition was gone. It felt like I was supporting an expansion franchise.

I do, however, think that you are over-stating the case. Gorton is doing literally the opposite of what was done in the dark ages. By the time this team is ready to compete for a Cup again, guys like Zucc will be pushing 35-36 years old. Guys like Hayes will be in the right age bracket still, but you can't pay a guy 2C money when he would be a 3c on a contender.

I think Gorton is going about things the right way. He's got a coach who can develop the kids. He's keeping enough vets so that the team can sustain a winning culture. A "winning culture" doesn't mean "winning every night" or even making regular deep runs in the post-season. A winning culture means creating a feeling in that locker room that they have a chance to win every night. Those teams who bottomed out and had multiple bottom 5 finishes lost that. They expected to lose every night. This team never does that.

Zucc can 100% help in continuing that, and I do hope he signs back with us this summer. But that would also mean that the end of his career will likely be playoff free. If he chooses that, I'm happy to have him (it's not like we have a ton of rookies on the wing he'd be blocking). But I also won't be shocked if he wants to have a chance at the Cup in his last few years.

But that's the thing! The finger you want to point it at. The specific players you have determined to win and then you trade him in hope he will re-sign again. The entire organization has always relied on unreliable, overpaid UFAs and it has been a total disaster. Since Lundqvist arrived, how many core players are left? How many other, actual star players were there to carry the burden? What do you have to show what this particular team culture is about? What team culture is there to explain, except for the vague reputation not proven?

Detroit managed a dynasty because they could keep a determined team culture, with players willing to give the price, talented or not. Not even Detroit could keep it up for eternity. But how does NYR even start that determined culture? A lot of gambling is kept on Zuccarello re-signing in New York again. I'm not so sure he will, unless he and management have had some very loyal talks in the shadows.

I don't frown on your standing as a loyal fan. I can respect it from a certain viewpoint. I can see your positive outcome, surviving the dark years and still feeling hope. But I'm inclined to be very susceptible myself, that this gamble will pay off. It's crazy, unless we have a deal in the shadows.

 

[smoneil]

I don't frown on your standing as a loyal fan. I can respect it from a certain viewpoint. I can see your positive outcome, surviving the dark years and still feeling hope. But I'm inclined to be very susceptible myself, that this gamble will pay off. It's crazy, unless we have a deal in the shadows.

It helps to also be a Jets/Knicks fan. In comparison to those two franchises, the Rangers ain't doing half bad, hahaha.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

We have a plethora of vets still on this team, many of which will likely be here next year. Is Zucc the only person on earth who can create an appropriate locker-room environment?

Zucc and Hank were friends for a decade. They went through a lot together. I'm sure he is a fantastic teammate.

I'm not against re-signing him, if the price is right, but let's not act like he is some irreplaceable mentor and leader. This kinda stuff is always significantly overrated by fan bases when it comes to fan favorites.

This x forever.

Judging by Hanks reaction, I think its safe to say that he won't be coming back.

 

[Chimpradamus]

It helps to also be a Jets/Knicks fan. In comparison to those two franchises, the Rangers ain't doing half bad, hahaha.

Well, if there's anything given to a New York sports fan, it's to have infinite patience in their own perserverance. I've grown up in a landscape where winters of -30 degrees are normal. It's very harsh, cold and direct.

I think we learn struggles in somewhat different ways. I just can't accept it, because struggling for too long leads to death, even in sports. It's an even harsher mindset than a big city (or in our eyes, a city as big as our entire country). I think that's the difference between a New Yorker and a citizen of a subarctic climate. It's the acceptable length of prolonged suffering.

These statements are not meant to have any emotional connection towards it. It's entirely philosophical. Let's just say rural northerners are harder to please and easier to anger.