Article: What Does Mats Zuccarello Bring To Save the Wild's Season?

[Tony Abbott]

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[Patrick]

If Zucc manages to defy age the top six should round into form. I would disagree that Kaprizov has excelled at carrying the puck this year. He looks slow and has been stood up and had the puck taken 1v1 by very average defenders on several occasions. Something unheard of in previous seasons.

Hopefully he was lazy in the summer and is still getting into shape. The alternative is that we have already seen his peak....yikes.

[MNCountryLife]

I'll come back to this one obvious fact.  We do not have a 2nd scoring line.  Kirill, Boldy and Ek are the only true top 6 forwards we have on the team.  Rossi is close.  So close that sometimes I include him... sometimes I don't.  Senko and Marcus are not close.  

Is Zuc a top 6 forward?  Who cares.  He is 38yo and his contract ends this year and the odds of retirement are through the roof.  Zuc is not a part of any team the Wild will have for a cup run.

We only have 4 of the 6 needed for two scoring lines.  BG's work is incomplete.  

 

[Scalptrash]

I hope he still has hands, because he won't have legs after missing training camp and all of this time. He's 38, another year older, and going to be very fragile while trying to get up to game speed. I wouldn't expect much for a while.

What's the word on our other savior, Sturm, the friendly ghost? Back spasms? He's going to be in and out the rest of his career.

[1Brotherbill]

Save the season?  I don't know about that.  But what it does is pushes a top six player further down the lineup.  So as a whole the team gets better. 

[Thomas]

Pretty nifty passing there by 36 and 97 to drive in the nail against the Isles 😍

First of many hopefully

[Thomas]

10 hours ago, MNCountryLife said:

....Is Zuc a top 6 forward?  Who cares.  He is 38yo and his contract ends this year and the odds of retirement are through the roof.  Zuc is not a part of any team the Wild will have for a cup run....

 

Quote

– Jeg er stolt av hva jeg har fått til og å ha kommet dit jeg er. Nå er jeg i jobbmodus og opptatt av å avslutte med stil de siste par årene man spiller, sa Zuccarello til NTB i oktober.

- I'm proud of what I have achieved and to have reached the level I'm at. (Now) I'm in work mode and focused on rounding off the last couple of years as a player in style, Zuccarello told NTB in october.

Sounds like he's aiming to play in 26-27 as well.

He told media earlier this summer that he wants to keep playing for as long as his body can take it.

Edited November 8 by Thomas

[Citizen Strife]

Looks like he can still do a lot.

[goenzoy]

12 hours ago, MNCountryLife said:

We only have 4 of the 6 needed for two scoring lines.  BG's work is incomplete.  

And two scoring lines are even not enough for a playoff team

[Citizen Strife]

2025-2026 Numbers Game v2

 

2025-2026 Numbers Game (16 Games Played)

Record: 6-7-3 (15 pts, 6th in Central, T-11th in Western Conference, T-21st (25th) in NHL, 4-4-2 in L10)

 

 

Goals For: 2.94 Per Game (19th in NHL)

Goals Against: 3.56 Per Game (28th in NHL)

PP: 31.0% (4th in NHL)

PK: 70.6% (T-26th in NHL)

 

Gustavsson: 4-7-1, 3.19 GAA (51st in Goalies), .896 SV% (36th in Goalies)*

Wallstedt: 2-0-2, 3.11 GAA (T-48th in Goalies), .879 SV% (T-52nd in Goalies)*

*Goalie Rankings could be skewed due to differences in games played, when weighed against goalies with 4 or more starts.

 

Kaprizov: 9G, 12A, 21P (T-3rd in NHL), -4

Boldy: 7G, 8A, 15P (T-33rd in NHL), -4

Johansson: 6G, 8A, 14P (T-39th in NHL), +3

Rossi: 4G, 9A, 13P (T-49th in NHL), -6

Tarasenko: 2G, 8A, 10P (T-93rd in NHL), -6

+/-

Highest: Bogosian/Johansson (+3), Hunt (+2), Brodin/Trenin (0)

Lowest: Faber/Ek (-7), Spurgeon/Buium/Foligno (-10)

[Pewterschmidt]

2 hours ago, goenzoy said:

And two scoring lines are even not enough for a playoff team

L2 line stat line

Ek 0-0-0

Boldy 0-0-0

nojo 0-1-1 (2nd assist on vin hin’s goal)

[Pewterschmidt]

27 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

L2 line stat line

Ek 0-0-0

Boldy 0-0-0

nojo 0-1-1 (2nd assist on vin hin’s goal)

In 97 we trust

[Pewterschmidt]

Pewter’s Positives:

1) Z Boo + Hunt is the pairing

2) Yurov getting his reps at 4C and hiding the broomstick twins on 4L kills two birds with one stone.  The line was effective so keep it coming hynze

Pewter’s Pissfits

1) this team is still two top 6’rs away from relevance.  As long as 36 is valcro’d to 97 he’s a top 6.  Same goes for Rossi.  When this line has off night wins are gonna be tough to come by 
2) Boldy needs to graduate to a consistent top 6 player w/o 97.  He’s capable of dragging Ek up to top 6, but can’t drag NoJo up too.  Get ready to see a 10 game skid from NoJo in 3,2,1….but P-O’plenty why so negative?  It’s called the law of averages people.  The imp that is NoJo is ready to pull the rug out from all the people who thought he’d become a consistent pro at age 35.  I’m just the messenger people. 
3) Senko has gone full Nyquist.  He’s got more heart than NoJo, but less gas in the tank.  Every line he’s on is a two man line

[Pewterschmidt]

Google: An imp is a small, mischievous creature from European folklore, often described as a minor demon or goblin.

Edited November 8 by Pewterschmidt

[Imyourhuckleberry]

Up next, homes games against:

Calgary

San Jose

Anaheim

Vegas

Carolina

It won't be easy, but the Wild could really use 8-10 points from that stretch in order to come out looking like a team who can make a  playoff push.

[mnfaninnc]

There was a lot to like last night. While the Wild came out playing in a shell for the 1st 5 minutes, I liked how they played the final 55. 

Zuccarello added some hop to Kaprizov's step as I ponder the Johansson affect on the past 5 games with him on the top line. I can say that Kaprizov came alive and looked much better.

What a difference the 3rd pairing had with Hunt opposite of Buium. The 2 seemed to have chemistry, and Hunt was like a nice warm blanket on a cold day. This was instead of the normal 3rd pairing fire drill we've been seeing. Everything seemed calm with that pair, and I believe they got some minutes. 

The trickle down effect was good too. The new 3rd line with Tarasenko, I thought, was good, but Vinnie seems to be the guy driving that line. The 4th line was really good and I think Hynes can trust it just as it is. Send Jones or Pitlick back down. 

When Sturm comes back, what do we do with Yurov? From what we've seen of Hynes, it appears he will be leery to play Yurov higher in the lineup, but I would think a Yurov-Ek-Boldy line might be effective. When Johansson does grow cold, this is where I would stick Yurov, Johansson to the Prossbox. 

Hunt or Bogosian? To me, I think you stick with Hunt. He's still very young but was solid positionally, skated well, took the body when needed and was very calm. Bogosian does all that too pretty well, but is not the future. Hunt needs TOI. I would drop Bogo down on the depth chart. 

When Sturm does come back, I think the other of Jones/Pitlick heads down to Iowa. There isn't much room for Ohgren to come back up unless there are injuries. 

[Enforceror]

2 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

There was a lot to like last night. While the Wild came out playing in a shell for the 1st 5 minutes, I liked how they played the final 55. 

Zuccarello added some hop to Kaprizov's step as I ponder the Johansson affect on the past 5 games with him on the top line. I can say that Kaprizov came alive and looked much better.

What a difference the 3rd pairing had with Hunt opposite of Buium. The 2 seemed to have chemistry, and Hunt was like a nice warm blanket on a cold day. This was instead of the normal 3rd pairing fire drill we've been seeing. Everything seemed calm with that pair, and I believe they got some minutes. 

The trickle down effect was good too. The new 3rd line with Tarasenko, I thought, was good, but Vinnie seems to be the guy driving that line. The 4th line was really good and I think Hynes can trust it just as it is. Send Jones or Pitlick back down. 

When Sturm comes back, what do we do with Yurov? From what we've seen of Hynes, it appears he will be leery to play Yurov higher in the lineup, but I would think a Yurov-Ek-Boldy line might be effective. When Johansson does grow cold, this is where I would stick Yurov, Johansson to the Prossbox. 

Hunt or Bogosian? To me, I think you stick with Hunt. He's still very young but was solid positionally, skated well, took the body when needed and was very calm. Bogosian does all that too pretty well, but is not the future. Hunt needs TOI. I would drop Bogo down on the depth chart. 

When Sturm does come back, I think the other of Jones/Pitlick heads down to Iowa. There isn't much room for Ohgren to come back up unless there are injuries. 

Agree with most of these points. I was wondering last night what happens when Sturm gets back. Unfortunately I think Yurov will be the casualty. If not maybe Vinnie but he's been playing really well. I was also pleasantly surprised with Hunt. Keep him up, Jiricek needs more development...he just doesn't have the mobility and not enough hockey sense to cover for it. I think Ohgren will be in Iowa the rest of the year.

[FredJohnson]

Def Leppard said it best...

 

 

[mnfaninnc]

Calgary up tonight. I hope we can keep rolling. It's 4/6 night, but we got the day off yesterday so the legs should be good. 

Barring injuries, Hynes' pattern is to keep the lineup the same. Coaches are so superstitious sometimes.