After a very promising rookie season Michael Del Zotto saw
his game regress in his second season with the New York Rangers. The attempts to improve his defense and curb
his mistakes led to a player that played scared hockey and had no confidence to
use his skills in the ways he had throughout his hockey playing career. When a player struggles it is natural for
fans to look for explanations as to the regression in that players’ game and
with Del Zotto it revolved around talk about his commitment to the game. The combination of murmurs of him showing up
at training camp out of shape last year and his inability or unwillingness to
learn from his mistakes and continue making them saw many get down on or just
give up on Del Zotto.
Needing a bounce back season this year, Del Zotto is doing
everything he can this summer to prove that commitment and prime himself for a
huge third year in New York. Over the
course of the summer he has worked with skating guru Barbara Underhill and been
constantly training to ensure his conditioning for the training camp next
month. Yesterday he took another step announcing
that he is stepping away from twitter to have his sole focus on being ready
for the season.
It is certainly possible that with how easy a player with
his skill can glide through the ranks and get away with taking shortcuts that
it took a season as humbling as last year to truly teach him what it takes to
remain at the pro level. The Rangers
showed Del Zotto last season that even with their struggles to find a power
play quarterback they will not hand him anything in the hopes that he can be
that missing player for them. The
message to Del Zotto was clear that he has to play well on both ends of the ice
or he will not have a roster spot and at least in the summer it appears the
message has been received in the right frame by MDZ. The rest of the league should be nervous if a
player of the skill of Del Zotto has a chip on his shoulder out to prove he
belongs because if he puts it the package together it gives the Rangers a
tremendous offensive weapon from the blue line that can be shielded defensively
as a member of the third pair. There is
certainly no telling if the focus and commitment on being ready for the season
will translate to better play on the ice, but it certainly appears that Del
Zotto has been humbled by his struggles last year and is willing to put in the
work necessary to improve at the NHL level.
As someone who has been as hard as any on Del Zotto, both before and
after the offense left him, I am looking for a big rebound season from the
gifted offensive defenseman that should see him crack the 40 point mark.
