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In a season where many different Rangers’ young players
progressed in their development and impact at the NHL level, Michael Del Zotto
had a different reaction during the 2010-11 season. After a strong rookie season in which he was
named to the NHL All-Rookie team Del Zotto regressed in year two. The nine goals and 28 assists of the 2009-10
campaign raised expectations for the 20-year-old defender coming into the
season and significantly intensified the frustration and scrutiny over his
play.
All of the concerns for Del Zotto coming into the season
revolved around his defensive shortcomings that plagued him during his first
season in the NHL. While his defense was
still shaky at times in terms of positioning, and reading the play there was
overall improvement on that end of the ice.
The problems were with his offensive and mental sides of the game.
Offensively he struggled, only contributing two goals and
nine assists in his 47 games with the Rangers.
One reason for the lack of goal scoring was a significant inability to
hit the net with his shot. In those 47
games Del Zotto recorded 58 shots on goal, which compares to the 42 times he
was recorded missing the net. For a player
of Del Zotto’s skill both his number of attempts and successful attempts on
goal are discouraging. The number of
attempts delves into his reluctance to shoot the puck in many situations where
he had lanes, but lacked the confidence in his shot. Instead of firing the shot, he would often
dump the puck around the boards for yet another cycle play by the forwards.
The mental side of the game struggles manifested themselves
in multiple ways. The repetition of the
same mistakes caused consternation and frustration among all involved because
it led to wonders if he was really learning from his mistakes. The biggest source of his mistakes would be
from being overaggressive with the puck.
During his rookie season, part of what made Del Zotto so exciting were
the stretch passes he would use to spring forwards like Marian Gaborik. This season those were misfiring on a
consistent basis and more likely to come back at the Rangers with a chance for
the opposition. Instead of adjusting to
that reality and making the short, simple pass to get out of his end, Del Zotto
would keep firing the long pass. The
other major mistake which harmed him significantly defensively would be the
over handling of the puck in his own end which led to turnovers in scoring
areas.
The regression within his game got to the point where he was
a healthy scratch for multiple games and sent to the AHL for multiple stints
with the Connecticut Whale to both work on his game and build his confidence
back up. During his time with the Whale
he showed both the flashes of offense he had during his rookie campaign, but also
the inconsistency that marred year two.
During his final stint with the Whale, Del Zotto would cap his
frustrating year with a broken finger that ended his campaign and recently he
also had sports hernia surgery that will have him rehabbing for the next month.
Having a regression as a 20-year-old is certainly not
unheard of and does not mean that Del Zotto’s days as a key piece to the future
of this organization are over by any means.
What it means is that a young player hit some bumps in his development
and now the Rangers’ and Del Zotto will find out the type of player and person
they are dealing with in how he responds and rebounds from the struggles. Many very good players have had sophomore
slumps in their careers and now it is up to Del Zotto to make sure that is all
the 2010-11 season was and not a prelude to the rest of his career.
