Toggle sidebar

Mats Zuccarello

  • Thread starter Thread starter Wolfy*
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
I was really disappointed in Torts. Benching Zooks multiple times is going to destroy his confidence just like Kreider. On the goal Boyle lost the draw clean. Zooks did exactly what he should have done. He ran out to the point. A weak deflection snuck through. To scapegoat Zooks on that goal was ridiculous and sad.
 
NickyFotiu said:
I was really disappointed in Torts. Benching Zooks multiple times is going to destroy his confidence just like Kreider. On the goal Boyle lost the draw clean. Zooks did exactly what he should have done. He ran out to the point. A weak deflection snuck through. To scapegoat Zooks on that goal was ridiculous and sad.
Click to expand...

I don't think he was punishing Zucc, more playing the hot hand in Asham who looked very good last night.
 
NYR Boyler87 said:
I don't think he was punishing Zucc, more playing the hot hand in Asham who looked very good last night.
Click to expand...

Also I think he put Zucc in a position to be a positive factor. Playing him mostly in the offensive zone and on the pp, meant he got to play to his strengths and didn't use a lot of energy defending.
 
Blue Blooded said:
Colour me intrigued, what did he say?
Click to expand...

Well the original issue was that his arrangement with Unitbet does not correspond to the monopoly that the Norwegian government has on lottery and betting. The norwegian lottery funnels huge surplus of its income back into the various sport federations across the country. So when a athlete dares to back any foreign betting company, he's basically viewed as the destroyer of organized sports by a few old men in suits. To quote the general secretary of the norwegian hockey federation: "His co-op arrangement with Unibet must cease. To have such an arrangement with a competitor to Norsk Tipping does not correspond with the values of being part of the national team.

A couple quotes from the newspapers, his immediate response:

"They haven't called me or told me anything. They have just gone out in the media. It is quite cowardly. It's ******** that they have informed me. They have a board that is run by amateurs. It's a best friends club." - The 25 year old rages, according to NRK.

And todays most recent quote:

" No one has spoken to me, no one has called me or told me anything. Instead they go out in the media with this information, I think that is cowardly. I dont know if they are even allowed to suspend me this way, but I dont care about that now.

- Of course this sucks. I wish the national team all the best in the WC and hope they win, but I wont be able to participate, and that's how it is. I am either way in Rangers at the moment and I'm focusing on our matches in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

And lastly, he does not plan to end his agreement with Unibet:

"No, I don't see why I should. As a private person I feel that I should be allowed to make my own decisions about what I want. I have my company back home (The Zucc fund) in Norway and through that I will support children and youths in hockey. The thought is that the money from the commercial deal with Unibet goes directly to this fund, and if the hockey federation cannot tolerate that, I can't do anything about it."

Basically he is sticking up to what he believes is right. The general consensus here in Norway appears to be that he's got the backing of the fans, and the suits be damned.
 
SixGoalieSystem said:
Also I think he put Zucc in a position to be a positive factor. Playing him mostly in the offensive zone and on the pp, meant he got to play to his strengths and didn't use a lot of energy defending.
Click to expand...

Didn't he have like 9:30 TOI when we were around 7-8 minutes into the 2nd period?

He obviously played a good game, I find it hard to believe that even Torts didn't see the significance of the contributions he makes in the offensive zone. Something must have happened after that but I fail to see what.
 
Zuccarello's been playing very well. I like that he's not taking a step back--he's playing a gritty game and he's making plays in the offensive end. The reason though that Pyatt and Asham are getting ice time is they're bigger bodies and apart from Erat all the Caps wingers are big strong guys. The Rangers wings are not so big or strong. This is about board battles and puck possession and grinding the other teams defense down which is typical of NHL playoffs. So Zuccarello is not going to get 20 minutes a game--10 to 15 minutes is plenty even if he's making more of an offensive contribution.
 
Trying to always bang the Puck up the boards is what makes our team so predictable and why we have so much more trouble getting out of our own zone. Off the boards is a normal way to go but when it is the only way other teams adjust to it.
 
eco's bones said:
So Zuccarello is not going to get 20 minutes a game--10 to 15 minutes is plenty even if he's making more of an offensive contribution.
Click to expand...

For playoff games, I agree.

Torts is worried about Zucc being overmatched. Playing him a lot of short shifts, and it paid off.
 
NickyFotiu said:
Trying to always bang the Puck up the boards is what makes our team so predictable and why we have so much more trouble getting out of our own zone. Off the boards is a normal way to go but when it is the only way other teams adjust to it.
Click to expand...

Throwing it up the middle or trying to spring someone through for a breakaway more often leads to defensive breakdowns. There's at least as good a chance that things will go spectacularly wrong. If your opponent is determined to forecheck you hard and work the boards and the corners you have to have the numbers to defend it. You're not often going to be able to move the puck quickly enough to outslick a team all night long. It doesn't work that way. Forechecking systems are designed to disrupt the opposing teams breakout--to force the other team to come out either the left or the right side. Split second accurate passing is a hard thing for any team to sustain for any length of time and especially when you have some big palooka breathing down your neck.

To go back to the 94 cup winning team--Amonte, Gartner, Turcotte were all offensively gifted players but not so good mucking along the boards. The Noonan's and Matteau's not as offensively gifted but they could grind. The Rangers without Amonte, Gartner and Turcotte still had a ton of skill. It's a balance but no team is going to win without big, strong forwards grinding out the minutes. They wear the other team down. Another example would be Gionta, Bernier, Carter the Devils 4th line last year. On paper--almost laughable but they gave us fits--along with Zubrus, Ponikarovsky--we lost the series against the Devils in the corners and along the boards.
 
Idlerlee said:
Didn't he have like 9:30 TOI when we were around 7-8 minutes into the 2nd period?

He obviously played a good game, I find it hard to believe that even Torts didn't see the significance of the contributions he makes in the offensive zone. Something must have happened after that but I fail to see what.
Click to expand...

I think they had a shift fighting in their own zone and then he was benched. Comes back in the third and got the minus while failing to block the shot. Think it was then I thought he wouldn't see any more icetime, and suddenly he assisted on the gamewinner.

This thing about the sponsorship just gets weirder by the minute. Quite ambigious about the whole sponsorship, but now it seems that his half brother playing in SEL is taking the final roster spot as an extra attacker, barring him from entering the competition regardless. That happens after the sponsor says they are ok with terminating the deal to let him play, and both him and the NT general manager declare themselves finnished with the issue, and he wants to play.
 
Eco other teams mix it up. Up the boards is the usual way but if that is all you do you will have problems. Yes people remember the times up the middle that fail but don't remember all the times it doesn't. There are plenty of goals we let up when we have not been able to get the puck out up the boards. The Caps do not go up the boards 100% of the time. We are the most predictable team in the playoffs.
 
I was at the game last night and noticed that in the 2nd period, Zuke was getting pounded along the boards a lot, and the Caps were trying to mess with him behind the play.

At one point, he was sandwiched by two Caps and his helmet popped off. He looked shaken up and didn't play a lot in the 2nd after that so I actually assumed he was hurt. I was glad to see him back in the 3rd period, I just think he needed a breather in the 2nd, and there were players such as Asham and Pyatt who were better suited to physical board play at that juncture.
 
OverTheCap said:
I was at the game last night and noticed that in the 2nd period, Zuke was getting pounded along the boards a lot, and the Caps were trying to mess with him behind the play.

At one point, he was sandwiched by two Caps and his helmet popped off. He looked shaken up and didn't play a lot in the 2nd after that so I actually assumed he was hurt. I was glad to see him back in the 3rd period, I just think he needed a breather in the 2nd, and there were players such as Asham and Pyatt who were better suited to physical board play at that juncture.
Click to expand...

Well, that makes sense then. Good coaching. He sure got the most out of him the time he was playing.
 
Time for Zucc to pick up the art of natural bodybuilding before the next season I think. So the first thing that happens when someone tries to level him is that they are promptly shouldered through the glass by a muscular ferret in a blue jersey.
 
OverTheCap said:
At one point, he was sandwiched by two Caps and his helmet popped off.
Click to expand...
:laugh:

Good one..

Zucc is a warrior, he can handle a few of those.

But I wonder why they always try to mess with the hobbit behind the play, trying to hurt him?
 
Idlerlee said:
Time for Zucc to pick up the art of natural bodybuilding before the next season I think. So the first thing that happens when someone tries to level him is that they are promptly shouldered through the glass by a muscular ferret in a blue jersey.
Click to expand...

LOL musuclar ferret. There's a video of how we used a precursor to HGH on mice early in genetic testing and I have the image of a massively bulked up mouse/ferret creature in my head
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Top Bottom