It’s time for the final handful of report cards for the Minnesota Wild, and next up was Mats Zuccarello. He started the season as his best buddy, Kirill Kaprizov’s wing partner, but that changed throughout the season. Kaprizov stayed on the top line, but Zuccarello bounced around wherever he fit while they tried to find the perfect partner for Kaprizov.
Despite the line changing, Zuccarello did find a way to produce during the season, but his team needed more. The team as a whole couldn’t do enough to make it into the postseason, so we’ll be basing Zuccarello’s grade strictly on the regular season. We’ll look at a rough part of his game and then a strong part to come up with an overall grade. We’ll start with his lack of goals and move on from there.
Zuccarello Struggled to Score
When Zuccarello and Kaprizov were first paired together, it was a match made in heaven. They had a crazy amount of chemistry, and it seemed like they were unstoppable when it came to scoring, but unfortunately, it didn’t last. They still have great chemistry and can score goals, but it’s not as often, and they needed more from both players, so they broke them apart.
Zuccarello scored some goals but had trouble finding the back of the net. It was the most trouble he had in the past three seasons and his goals dropped nearly in half. In the two seasons before 2023-24, he had over 20 goals each season, but in 2023-24 he had just 12 goals.
His points went from 67 in 2022-23 to 63 in 2023-24, which is only a four-point difference, but four goals or four assists could’ve meant more wins or losses. Since his contract was extended not long ago, the Wild will have Zuccarello for a while yet. Hopefully, he can find renewed chemistry this next season and score a career-high in goals.
Zuccarello Still Had All-Around Game
Outside of his lack of goals, Zuccarello actually had a productive season in certain areas, offensively and defensively. On the offensive side, he assisted on 51 goals, which was just four assists shy of a career-high. It’s slightly surprising he didn’t have more goals with the 173 shots he took.
However, he really shined on the defensive side, especially in his blocked shots. He blocked 50 shots in 69 games played, which meant 50 fewer goals were able to make it past their goaltenders. His turnovers and takeaways broke even at 38 a piece, and while those are high numbers for both, it’s to be expected for someone who plays like he does.
Luckily for the Wild, although they didn’t make the postseason and Zuccarello couldn’t score many goals, he still kept his all-around game going. He found ways to produce some offensively and stepped up strong defensively. Hopefully, he can keep that part of his game going and find a way to score more goals.
Zuccarello’s Overall Grade
Zuccarello is hard to grade because he did well in every aspect of his game except goals scored. He did make some mistakes when he was paired with Kaprizov, but that fell on both of them, not just one. Looking at his play, he earned a C- because he found ways to improve his game despite not scoring goals.
However, his grade wasn’t higher because of the goal-scoring problem, and the Wild needed him to do more in that area. It’ll be interesting to see if Zuccarello starts the season on the top line or if he’ll be on the second line where he finished the season. It’s easy to assume they’ll try the Zuccarello/Kaprizov connection to see if it sparks anything, but if not, they’ll have to try something else.
Related: Wild Report Cards 2023-24: Ryan Hartman
Regardless of what line Zuccarello plays on, the Wild will need him to find a way to score goals while keeping the rest of his game going. The postseason is difficult to get into, and the Wild need their entire roster to contribute to secure a spot.
