New York Rangers: Evaluating Mats Zuccarello’s season
The New York Rangers are in the middle of a lackluster season by anyone’s standards. The team is reeling after the All-Star Break and have lost three straight. Mats Zuccarello seems to be underachieving even though he leads the team in points.
The New York Rangers have had a bad season. There’s no way around it. Many have taken to blaming the team’s core players.
While captain Ryan McDonagh has certainly underperformed this year, another longtime Ranger has played well, just under the radar. Mats Zuccarello continues to perform at a high level. He currently leads the team in both points and assists.
Evaluating any one Ranger this season is difficult, as no one (other than Henrik Lundqvist) has had a great season up to this point. Of any other player, Zuccarello has played the best in a few different facets of the game.
Offensively: A-
Mats Zuccarello has continued his strong offensive play on which he has made his name. As previously stated, Zuccarello leads the team in two of the major offensive statistics: points and assists. Through 52 games, Zuccarello has eight goals and 30 assists for a total of 38 points.
He gets an A-minus because of the pace he set last year. Last season, Zuccarello posted 59 points in 80 games. That gives him 28 games to accumulate 21 points, a tough feat when looking at what the team is going through right now.
The positives of Zuccarello’s grade include his linemates. At the start of the season, he played on a line with Rick Nash and a cycle of different centers. As the season has progressed, many Rangers forwards have been injured and given different roles. Out of any player, Zuccarello’s been the most consistent.
Defensively: D
No player on the Rangers deserves a passing grade defensively. The entire team has been a sieve for shots. Nobody has played well at all in the defensive end.
Although plus-minus itself is an outdated stat, it, plus some possession numbers, helps to provide a bigger picture. Zuccarello is currently sitting with a minus-four rating on the season. At the same time, he carries a 45.75 Corsi which is by far the worst rating of his career.
That means that Zuccarello is typically on the ice for two different defensive issues. His plus-minus states that Zuccarello is on the ice for more goals against than goals for. His sub-50 Corsi shows that he is on the ice for more shots on goal against than shots on goal for the Rangers.
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Final Grade: B
Mats Zuccarello gets a solid B in my book. He has continued his strong offensive play and lead the Rangers’ forwards. However, his defense has been lacking, not unlike the rest of the team. Sadly, it seems as though the Rangers’ brass is planning on breaking up the core group; don’t be surprised if Zuccarello is on the move come February 26th.