New York Rangers Report Card: Mats Zuccarello

Once again, Mats Zuccarello was one of the New York Rangers’ best players this season and has managed to “help” his former team even after being traded to the Dallas Stars.

Mats Zuccarello – Grade A+

For our final installment of the “report cards” series, we took a look at Mats Zuccarello’s final season with the New York Rangers. As usual, he was an extremely valuable part of the offense, though this season he became even more valuable as a trade piece.

His Season

Zuccarello stayed consistent for just about the entire season. He had 10 points in 12 games in October, highlighted by three multi-point contests; two assists against the Colorado Avalanche on October 16th, two goals against the Florida Panthers on the 23rd, and one goal and one assist against the San Jose Sharks on October 30th.

Uncertainty over his future with the team resulted in November and December being slower months for the forward, full of pointless streaks and strings of missed games, but he was able to bounce back in mid-January. He had 13 points, made up of five goals and nine assists, in 11 games.

Zuccarello’s January boasted a few more notable moments, including a six-game point streak consisting of four multi-point games. He even had two three-point games, one against the Carolina Hurricanes on January 15th and one against the New Jersey Devils on January 31st, both being made up of three assists each.

February would ultimately become the Norwegian’s final month as a Ranger, and his level of play definitely helped increase his trade value. In 10 games with New York, he had 10 points (three goals and seven assists).

After being traded to the Dallas Stars, Zuccarello was unfortunately only able to play one regular season game before getting injured. In his  February 24th debut against the Chicago Blackhawks, he had two points, one goal and one assist, before breaking his arm blocking a shot.

The forward appeared in just one other regular season game, on April second against the Philadelphia Flyers. He quickly made up for lost time, with an assist in his first game back.

Zuccarello played a significant role in the Stars’ playoff success. In six games against the Nashville Predators, he had three points (all goals).

In seven games against the St. Louis Blues, he picked up the pace. By the end of this series, Zuccarello had eight points (one goal and seven assists).

There was only one game that Zuccarello was held pointless during the St. Louis series, and just three during the Nashville series. He had two multi-point games, both during the Blues series, both consisting of two assists each.

Why the Grade

There really isn’t much to say about Mats Zuccarello this season; he did exactly what most fans wanted him to do. He had a great offensive campaign, finishing the year with 40 regular season points (12 goals and 28 assists in 48 games), as well as 11 playoff points (four goals and seven assists in 13 games) for Dallas.

His success as a scorer helped his trade value to skyrocket at the perfect time, just before the trade deadline in late February. While it was definitely hard to see such a beloved player go, the great return that the Rangers got helped to soften the blow.

New York received a conditional 2019 second-round pick and a 2020 third-round pick in exchange for their star winger. While one of the conditions is already impossible (if the Stars won two rounds in this year’s playoffs, the second would have become a first), one condition can still be carried out.

If Zuccarello re-signs with the Stars this summer, though he may be breaking some hearts back in New York, the conditional third will turn into a first. The Rangers have been trying to collect high picks and prospects (and high picks to trade in order to obtain prospects), and this deal definitely did the trick.

Losing “The Hobbit” was definitely hard for fans of the New York Rangers; he was a fan favorite on and off the ice and had been a part of this group for a long time. However, his departure was expected and even needed in order for the rebuild to advance.

In fact, it can be argued that Mats Zuccarello had a near perfect season this year. He played extremely well while with the Rangers, and got them a great return in the trade he was involved in…what more could you ask for?

By the Numbers (as a Ranger)

Goals: 11
Assists: 26
Points: 37
Games Played: 46
Power-Play Points: 14
PIM: 24
ATOI: 20:01
Corsi For: 48.8%

Thank you for following along with the Blue Line Station New York Rangers report cards series for the 2018-2019 season!  We will be back with an assessment of David Quinn in a roundtable of our BLS writers.

Be sure to stick around for more coverage and content for the rest of the off-season and through the 2019-2020 campaign.