Mats Zuccarello

[Kershaw]

He plays with more grit than Clowe.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

The strange thing to me about Zucc is how he got better. Most offensively talented players who are borderline NHLers make the leap when they become tougher, gain more composure, learn the "little things" and learn defensive responsibility. He did those things but he also just straight up got better at hockey. Faster skater, more agile, went from good to great playmaking abilities. It's like watching a youth hockey player getting older and better each year except Zucc doesn't grow.

Stepan and Tavares are 2 guys that became better hockey players. As did a lot of guys. Crosby. Players don't just come into the league and not improve their offensive game because they're offensively talented.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

Stepan and Tavares are 2 guys that became better hockey players. As did a lot of guys. Crosby. Players don't just come into the league and not improve their offensive game because they're offensively talented.

I see your point, although I dont think Crosby and Tavares are the best examples being they entered the NHL as teenagers coming into a man's game.Same can be said for Stepan who was 20.

When guys come into the NHL at 22/23, you figure they're physically matured and need to work more on the mental aspect of the game -- for the most part, at least.

 

[member 116805]

From Capgeek twitter:

transition rules have reduced maximum GP required for Group VI UFAs

As a result , McLaren and Bachman have met the GP required for restricted free agency. Zuccarello needs just one more GP to be RFA

more here

For players with 2012-13 counting as a professional season, transition rules to account for the lockout-shortened schedule apply and result in lower games-played requirements. The following are the adjusted games-played totals for skaters and goaltenders:
◦Three professional seasons: 69 and 25
◦Four professional seasons: 72 and 26
◦Five professional seasons: 74 and 26
◦Six professional seasons: 75 and 27
◦Seven professional seasons: 76 and 27

 

[Blue Blooded]

From Capgeek twitter:





more here

Great news! Should keep Zucc's cap hit down and practically guarantees that we re-sign him.

 

[Zucc36]

Zuccarello a new ambassador of "Right to play".

Google translate

Right to play is an organization to help and educate children that faces adversity.

 

[NickyFotiu]

Sounds like Torts really came around on Zooks.

Here’s Tortorella on three topics: the improvement in Mats Zuccarello in his second stint with the club, the d-pairings, and line changes.

On Zuccarello, who has three goals and five assists in 15 games since returning from the KHL.

“He’s in better shape,” he said. “He’s a quicker player; he certainly understands how we play away from the puck much better. You talk about all the deals we made, signing him was a real important thing for us to give us some offense and creativity and he adds some personality to our team.”

Tortorella admitted he was surprised at the change in the diminutive Norwegian winger.

“First thing I thought of when we talked about bringing him back was how important those shootouts are in the regular season and that’s all I was looking at. But then when you saw how he presented himself and how he looked, right away…I think it’s a great story. He’s playing in my top six right now.”

The coach recalled Rick Nash’s goal against the Devils in the final game of the season that Zuccarello set up in the offensive zone.

“He just held onto the puck and let everybody go by him and allowed the ice to open up for himself,” Tortorellas said. “Instead of panicking and being too quick with the puck or throwing it away to someone who’s covered, he allowed everybody to fall off him. It was a bang-bang play. The play doesn’t happen unless he has the presence of just holding on to the puck, and that’s what he brings, you can’t teach that, it’s creativity offensively. And what I respect about him is how much work he’s put into it, that would allow me to put him on the ice and not feeling he’s going to hurt us. We play so many close games, he has really worked at that and everything’s grown within himself.”

http://www.newsday.com/sports/hocke...-lineup-torts-on-zuccarello-d-pairs-1.5185087

 

[Idlerlee]

Duh was going to read the full article and it's subscriber only.. thanks for posting it

 

[NickyFotiu]

Duh was going to read the full article and it's subscriber only.. thanks for posting it

The rules say to only post part of it. Since this is a Zooks thread I tried to grab all the Zooks related part without breaking the rules.

 

[Idlerlee]

Ah yeah that's what I was thanking you for, should have made that more obvious I guess :p

 

[NickyFotiu]

Ah yeah that's what I was thanking you for, should have made that more obvious I guess :p

I understood. No worries.

 

[NYR Viper]

I said when it was rumored he was coming back, he helps this team in many different ways. He should be re-signed.

 

[KingStian]

Can't wait to see how he handles himself in a playoff situation. It would be great if he could break out when it comes to the point production. I hope the line with Nash and Richards stays on track and get to stay together for a while.

And the million dollar question is of course; will Zucc have a staredown with Ovechkin tonight?

 

[NYRKindms]

Can't wait to see how he handles himself in a playoff situation. It would be great if he could break out when it comes to the point production. I hope the line with Nash and Richards stays on track and get to stay together for a while.

And the million dollar question is of course; will Zucc have a staredown with Ovechkin tonight?

My GF always tries to get Zucca to go with Skinner in EA NHL 13 etc

She had just completed a beatdown of Skinner an hour before the last Canes v. NYR game

When they were starring at eachother down I was begging the hockey gods to let it happen for real.

 

[Fitzy]

Well, not to take anything away from him but I'd rather that line not be on against Ovechkin at all.

Stepan's line is the only one I trust with Boyle out. You can look in the future to a Pyatt-Boyle-Powe 4th line and say "yeah, that's reliable defensively" but as of right now we've got just the one. I mean Zucc-Richards-Nash and Pyatt-Brassard-Kreider are just sort of scary, if you think about it.

 

[GAGLine]

Well, not to take anything away from him but I'd rather that line not be on against Ovechkin at all.

Stepan's line is the only one I trust with Boyle out. You can look in the future to a Pyatt-Boyle-Powe 4th line and say "yeah, that's reliable defensively" but as of right now we've got just the one. I mean Zucc-Richards-Nash and Pyatt-Brassard-Kreider are just sort of scary, if you think about it.

Well, you know Girardi and McD will paired against him as much as possible, though the matchups will be tougher to get on the road.

 

[member 116805]

Can't wait to see how he handles himself in a playoff situation.

After seeing nearly every game of his KHL season + PO's, I must say that it was in the PO's his "transformation" was complete. He came out a very different player in those games, playing very well and more physical, and he carried that change over to the NHL.
Hopefully the start of another PO's will be the time where he steps it up even more.

 

[Idlerlee]

I think the only "problem" is that if he gets any more stare-downy now, the next step is dropping the gloves and pray that he lands a fist right in the nose before he gets annihilated by his opponent.

Granted, if he'd actually win a fight, I expect the Rangers fan to lose their **** around the rink and give out some cheers

Gonna be a really hard match today, I hope he wont get hit too much..although I suspect that might be a tactic he will face.

 

[SlingshotVv]

I can't believe how many more smart plays the PP makes with Zucc on the ice. The guy is an NHLer, plain and simple.

 

[Zucc36]

I can't believe how many more smart plays the PP makes with Zucc on the ice. The guy is an NHLer, plain and simple.

Got big minutes in his first real NHL Playoff game (no use counting his 7 minutes in 2011). Almost 22 minutes on ice.

As the rest of the team, not a big perfomance, but a decent game. Good for him to get this first PO-game.

 

[RangerBoy]

Mats Zuccarello, who has become an important part of the Rangers’ rotation since re-signing with the organization on March 28, became an impending Group II restricted free agent rather than an impending Group VI unrestricted free agent by playing in Thursday night’s Game 1, 3-1 defeat to the Capitals.

As a 25-year-old, Zuccarello would have been unrestricted under terms of the collective bargaining agreement if he finished the year having played fewer than 69 NHL games over the course of the first three seasons of his career.

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/rang...xrGyWTf7xH?utm_medium=rss&utm_content=Rangers

Either the new CBA changed group 6 from 80 to 69 games or Brooks is wrong. The actual CBA has never been released. Just the MOU.

 

[SixGoalieSystem]

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/rang...xrGyWTf7xH?utm_medium=rss&utm_content=Rangers

Either the new CBA changed group 6 from 80 to 69 games or Brooks is wrong. The actual CBA has never been released. Just the MOU.

It's still 80 games I believe, but because of the lockout and cba negotiations they created a transition rule.

He is indeed an RFA now, we covered this a couple of pages back

 

[Dagh]

I think someone posted earlier that the number of games changed due to the shortened season.

Any comments on his game last night btw?
I only saw the stats and the highlights. Not great timing for his first minus game, but it looked like he'd just stepped on the ice when the stretch pass was made for the 2-1 goal.

Could perhaps have made a better pass along the boards on the 3-1 goal, but I guess you could call it miscommunication and a fluke goal that followed. Goalies should get those shots (if they can see them, I'm sure Lundquist was screened by more than one player).

 

[RangerBoy]

Capgeek tweeted transition rule on Monday. It would have been nice if the NHL and NHLPA released all of the transition rules and piecemeal it. One day its the number of NHL games for players on entry level contracts which count as a one NHL season. Its 6. Then a month later its the number of games for an accrued season. Its 23. The word "transparency" is not in their vocabulary.

 

[Idlerlee]

He had a alright game, but not one for the history books. Obviously a plus that he had 6 hits, so he did attend the match.. altho I suspect one of them left him with doublevision since he was shooting at a invisible goal right next to the real one.

Don't really feel that any of the goals is on him, its just undeserved bad luck that he happened to be on, not like he could have done much to prevent them going in the way they did.

1.33
1.19
0.28
1.29
2.00 Last 5 swaps during the last 11 mins.

Going by that it would appear that Torts was counting on that line to put goals in. Perhaps because Nash was shooting so much,but its nice to see the little guy get that much confidence from the coach.