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During his rookie campaign Mats Zuccarello showed flashes of
the ways he could be successful in helping the New York Rangers. The combination of his hands, vision and
creativity give him a chance to be very successful at the NHL level despite the
small stature that cause questions about his ultimate viability in the
league. The fact that the discussion
about Zuccarello usually revolves around how he will fizzle out of the league
or he will be the next Martin St. Louis is unfair to the young Norwegian. The question right now however is how safe is
his roster spot for the upcoming season given the Rangers roster changes? What role can he find on the team depending
on how the roster shakes out?
Zuccarello was up and down between the NHL and AHL to close
last season. From that late season
roster Vinny Prospal and Chris Drury are gone, but into the lineup come Brad
Richards, Mike Rupp and a healthy Ryan Callahan. This is not talking about swapping player for
player, but the sheer numbers game that could swallow Zuccarello if he doesn’t have
a great camp this year. Once the Rangers
sign Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky to their new contracts they will have 14
forwards, including Zuccarello, under contract at the NHL level. Obviously Zuccarello is a better bet for the
Rangers to back than Erik Christensen, so that would bring the roster back to
13, but then who is the healthy scratch most nights? Avery? Wolski?
Where would Zuccarello even play?
In terms of Zuccarello’s role, he is a highly skilled
offensive player, and as such he needs to play with other skilled players and
in offensive situations. This was
evidenced by the difference in the amount of effectiveness Zuccarello had on the
power play as opposed to at even strength.
The power play creates more space for Zuccarello to work and use his
offensive gifts, which resulted in nine of his 17 assists last year.
There have been suggestions of giving him a chance on the
left wing with Marian Gaborik and Brad Richards and while on talent it could
fit, Zuccarello appeared to be much more confidence and effective on the right
wing than the left. The jump to the top
line would also be a huge challenge for Zuccarello as he would go from facing
second and third pair defenders to being up against every team’s best
pair. Gaborik and Richards would
certainly open space for him, but the combination of factors makes it unlikely
to work. The best role for him would be
back with Derek Stepan as the pair was amongst the best combinations either
found last season. The problem here
comes down to numbers and how the Rangers decide to combine their players. If Stepan is the third line center then this
would be a very good place for Zuccarello to be.
However, seeing as how the Rangers just paid Brian Boyle
$1.7 million for the next three seasons it is tough to imagine that they see
him, or his line, as their fourth line for the upcoming year. If that was to mean Zuccarello would be on
the fourth line regularly with limited ice time he might be better off in the
minors playing significant time until a more offensive spot opens via injury.
With a year under his belt playing the North American style
and understanding what is expected of him in this organization, expect
Zuccarello to come in and have a very good training camp to both force his way
on the roster and have the coaching staff find a role for him. His finishing will be one of the things that
he has to work on most in order to make that kind of impression because while
having a nose for the puck and creating chances, his lack of finishing on prime
chances was not a way to make the impression necessary.
