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Zuccarello sounds off on the Rangers handling of Lundqvist and Himself

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I can understand him being upset IF he never got a second big payday but he did!
So what's the problem?
How does he not understand the team hit a wall and needed to go in a different direction?
This comes to it being all about him.
So perhaps he's not the team player everyone thinks.
Be thankful for ur time here and be happy u helped the team turn around so quickly by trading u for future assets, meanwhile giving u the opportunity to win the cup in dallas and get another big contract with minn. The team had no obligation to do whatever it could to get u and hank the cup as a ranger. They did try for years and it didnt happen. So everyone moves on. Dont take it personally!
 
Zooks has the right to feel the way he feels and to express those thoughts just as much as the Rangers needed to do what they needed to do. He did take a discount to stay with the team (4 x 4.5) and go for it and the negotiations in the end were a half-hearted attempt at the very best. Seems like a lot of the bitterness is in this thread lol.
 
Love zoom, named my turtle after him lol

But come on he got his crazy pay day... it’s a bad contract . Sadly Hank needs to be the odd man out w the young G
 
he has every right to feel this way. I also have every right to no longer care about an ex-ranger who never brought a championship to the city. goes both ways.
 
Most athletes overvalue themselves and don't see themselves as expendable, when in reality sports is a business and most players are replaceable.

In a sport where even Gretzky got traded, every player should prepare for the possibility that they may not end up finishing their career on a team that they love, especially in a capped league. But this is much easier said than done, and athletes do have emotions.

If Zucc is still butthurt, that's his prerogative, but I don't like how he's projecting his feelings over to Hank. Lundqvist can speak up for himself if he is upset with the organization (and if he does have an issue, I'm sure he will do it privately and not air it out publicly as Zucc is doing).
 
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these players make more money in a year than most people will make in a lifetime and they get it to play hockey. cry me a river when you're no longer good enough or young enough to help a team win.
 
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I love Zucc and Hank, and he isn't wrong. Early on before Quinn had even coached a game, and they just skipped over Norway on that European tour of the team's leadership, it was evident that management had no intent on paying lip service to him, but were simply going to move on with little communication on the issue.

But ultimately, in Zucc's case, communication is the only thing that I can point to as being lacking in the whole process. It's a business, and Gorton acted as such and made what he (and most of the fanbase) believe to have been the best decision for the team.

In Hank's case, I'm not sure if the same isn't true again. He clearly has unanswered questions about what management's plans for him are, and he doesn't know much more about his future with the team than any of us do. Again, it's a business, but would it be that terrible to just be up front with one of, if not the, best players in franchise history?
 
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Personally, I really dislike the Rangers penchant for not communicating with players and agents until fairly late in the process. Particularly with players who might not be part of their long term plan. How many times in December, January, etc did we hear that no discussions between team and pending free agent have happened at all? Remember Stralman, who they planned to let go and never even talked to him? Hell, maybe I’m misremembering this already, but it seems like the Rangers had no discussions with Kreider until early February. Have they even had any discussions with Fast yet? Zuccarello has every right to be bitter about how they handled him.

On the other hand, it’s the player’s responsibility to deal with the adversity of a possible upcoming free agency, even when they want to stay. After all, you can only control your own actions. When you compare the way Zuccarello handled that stress with how Kreider did, there’s a clear difference. Kreider came to work every day and did his job as best he could. Zucc didn’t handle the time as well, which made the appetite from the Rangers side even less, which made Zucc handle it worse, which made the appetite from the Rangers side even less... circular on and on until we ended up where we did.

Both sides are to blame for Zucc feeling the way he does. But there’s no reason to talk to the press about it.
 
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Tawnos said:
Personally, I really dislike the Rangers penchant for not communicating with players and agents until fairly late in the process. Particularly with players who might not be part of their long term plan. How many times in December, January, etc did we hear that no discussions between team and pending free agent have happened at all? Remember Stralman, who they planned to let go and never even talked to him? Hell, maybe I’m misremembering this already, but it seems like the Rangers had no discussions with Kreider until early February. Have they even had any discussions with Fast yet? Zuccarello has every right to be bitter about how they handled him.

On the other hand, it’s the player’s responsibility to deal with the adversity of a possible upcoming free agency, even when they want to stay. After all, you can only control your own actions. When you compare the way Zuccarello handled that stress with how Kreider did, there’s a clear difference. Kreider came to work every day and did his job as best he could. Zucc didn’t handle the time as well, which made the appetite from the Rangers side even less, which made Zucc handle it worse, which made the appetite from the Rangers side even less... circular on and on until we ended up where we did.

Both sides are to blame for Zucc feeling the way he does. But there’s no reason to talk to the press about it.
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Brooks reported the Rangers had talks with Fast but weren't close to an agreement. They still decided to keep him.

Anyway I'm not sure the timetable we follow for communicating with our players is substantially different than what most other franchises practice. I mean maybe it is, maybe it isn't, I don't know if any of us can really say for sure.

Generally we only hear the player's side in these things, too. And we always know there's two sides to any story. The Rangers may have a totally different version of events for Zuccarello.
 
Once we see the Wild at MSG again, whenever it is, we'll hear for the first time "Those are not 'Zuccs,' Joe, those are boos!" and his heel turn will be complete.
 
Thirty One said:
What should they have done differently?
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Were it me, I would have told Zuccarello that if he wanted to retire a Ranger, he should have to take another discounted deal.

It's not "fair", but it gives Zucc that chance if he wants it. The impression I get is that NYR never was interested even in a lowball offer.
 
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It’s a rebuild. Zucs gets it more thank Hank ever has. He’s venting for his friend much like many fans have vented for Hank.
 
Fitzy said:
Were it me, I would have told Zuccarello that if he wanted to retire a Ranger, he should have to take another discounted deal.

It's not "fair", but it gives Zucc that chance if he wants it. The impression I get is that NYR never was interested even in a lowball offer.
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Yeah that would have been reasonable. I think the Rangers may have just been ready to move on. Zucc has not been very good this year. They cut bait on Stepan at the right time. Hopefully they're finally wising up and learning when to move on. Kreider will be an interesting case in a few years.
 
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nyr2k2 said:
Brooks reported the Rangers had talks with Fast but weren't close to an agreement. They still decided to keep him.

Anyway I'm not sure the timetable we follow for communicating with our players is substantially different than what most other franchises practice. I mean maybe it is, maybe it isn't, I don't know if any of us can really say for sure.

Generally we only hear the player's side in these things, too. And we always know there's two sides to any story. The Rangers may have a totally different version of events for Zuccarello.
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You're right that it might not be all that different, which is a broader problem if true.
 
Putting Zucc aside and going on to Henrik this is the way I see the Rangers goaltending right now:

1. Igor
2. Alex
3. Henrik

......and 1. and 2. are way cheaper than 3. This is why Henrik's days as a Ranger player are numbered or may be even over. He's much older and not as good as the other two goalies and he has a huge contract and we really don't need him in our net anymore. Great goaltender no question but it's the way it is and players as they get older decline.
 
1. I like Zuc but once again he was a pretty good player who Rangers fans treated like a Superstar because they haven't had an elite homegrown forward since the early 90s Weight/Amonte/Kovalev trio (yes you can maybe throw Savard and Knuble in there too but that's debatable).

2. Rangers fans overvalued his worth. He's not young and not that great anymore.

3. How much of this was from his conversations with Lundqvist and he's acting as a mouthpiece?

4. Georgiev is still a developing goalie you need to see what you have in him.

4. Most important point #1: So it's ok for Lou Lamariello to dump Gomez, Holik, Arnott, etc. for the Ducks to dump Perry, for other teams in other leagues to dump their older fading star players but once again the Rangers have to be held to some higher standard because of what? Why? Where is it written? And please don't use the lame "Well this is New York" answer. That doesn't mean anything. Even if the Rangers somehow were to become the 70s Canandians or 90s Bulls/Yankees (can you imagine that in our lifetime?) it doesn't matter business is business.

5. Most important point #2: He's entitle to his opinion and this shouldn't be newsworthy or rile anyone up. Nothing to see here keep it moving.
 
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Skjeikspeare said:
4. Most important point #1: So it's ok for Lou Lamariello to dump Gomez, Holik, Arnott, etc. for the Ducks to dump Perry, for other teams in other leagues to dump their older fading star players but once again the Rangers have to be held to some higher standard because of what? Why? Where is it written? And please don't use the lame "Well this is New York" answer. That doesn't mean anything. Even if the Rangers somehow were to become the 70s Canandians or 90s Bulls/Yankees (can you imagine that in our lifetime?) it doesn't matter business is business.
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Yep. Gorton must have done something horrible to Lundqvist and is forcing him into retirement after this season for Zucc to be taking this so personal.

And the Giants just did this to Eli Manning who actually has two Super Bowl MVP's to his name..
 
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Amazing Kreiderman said:
Moping midget, Moping midget, Moping midget

Do I look in the mirror now to spot Webster?
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You just did.

I will certainly not get involved in a debate on this board about Zuccarello's public comments on the Rangers.

But when it comes to Minnesota, I do want to say that there could be a number of reasons why Zuccarello didn't come out of the gate the way he would like. If you know a little about the background, it's hard to believe he still has a point in every second game this season.

Serious stuff happened there, Minnesota fired Bruce Boudreau. Perhaps management really didn't like the way he approached certain players. I'm sure Rangers fans would say that a coach who refuses to use Zuccarello in shootouts is an idiot.
 
Webster said:
You just did.

I will certainly not get involved in a debate on this board about Zuccarello's public comments on the Rangers.

But when it comes to Minnesota, I do want to say that there could be a number of reasons why Zuccarello didn't come out of the gate the way he would like. If you know a little about the background, it's hard to believe he still has a point in every second game this season.

Serious stuff happened there, Minnesota fired Bruce Boudreau. Perhaps management really didn't like the way he approached certain players. I'm sure Rangers fans would say that a coach who refuses to use Zuccarello in shootouts is an idiot.
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That’s great and all, but 82% of the Wild’s fanbase would prefer to pay Parise 7.5M for another 6 years until he’s 40, instead of pay Zucc 6M for another 5 years until he’s 36.

That’s all on Zucc.
 
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