Mats Zuccarello Is Turning Back the Clock

A month into the season, the Minnesota Wild have played like one of the league’s best teams.

Kirill Kaprizov is the star of the show, and deservedly so. The star winger flirts with the league’s points lead on a nightly basis. Still, while Kaprizov continues to garner everyone’s attention, the Robin to his Batman is quietly having one of the best starts he’s had in Minnesota.

Mats Zuccarello is his Robin, Kaprizov’s best friend and trusted linemate. He’s giving Minnesota fans a lot to be grateful for, although people may not recognize it until he retires. But for now, the Wild are getting their money’s worth with Zuccarello, and we should acknowledge that.

He has scored 11 points through 12 games this season and has already etched his name throughout the Wild’s All-Time leaders lists in less than six years.

Zuccarello is in his sixth season with the club and playing some of the best hockey in his career. Still, he’s done so quietly. It’s easy enough to overlook Zuccarello when he plays alongside Kaprizov, an early favorite for the Hart Trophy.

The Wild’s top line of Zuccarello, Kaprizov, and Marco Rossi is among the top-scoring lines in the league. How many 37-year-old undrafted wingers are still producing on an NHL top line? And Zuccarello is doing it at 5-foot-8, 181 lbs.

He’s the best Norwegian NHL player, and it isn’t close. Zuccarello has also quickly climbed the ranks of best players in team history, at least statistically speaking. He hit 200 goals this season and could push for 700 career points by season’s end at his current rate.

Zuccarello is in the top-10 on a handful of the Wild’s all-time statistical leaders lists in less than six full seasons. The veteran winger is second all-time in team history in assists per game (0.61) and points per game (0.87). Worth noting: Kaprizov is first in both categories.

There’s a reason Kaprizov has stuck alongside Zuccarello as long as the Wild star has been in the league. Zuccarello is the glue to Kaprizov’s game when paired together. They’ve been linemates since 2021 and quickly branded as the “best bromance in hockey.” The pair may be at their best through the first 15 games four years later to start this season.

Now that Zuccarello has established himself in the Wild history books over the past six years, people have forgotten his rocky beginning with the team. Many questioned former Wild GM Paul Fenton's decision to give a 32-year-old a five-year, $30 million contract in 2019. It felt like Fenton was overpaying for another over-the-hill, big-name free agent at the time. 

Then, his first season with the Wild failed to meet expectations. Zuccarello recorded only 37 points in 65 games during the COVID-shortened season. 

The pandemic delayed the following season. However, Zuccarello began looking more like the player the Wild meant to sign when he recorded 35 points in 42 games. In the last three seasons as Kaprizov’s full-time linemate, he’s averaged 70 points per season, while Kaprizov has averaged 93 and become a household name around the NHL.

However, Zuccarello’s playmaking abilities may not be his greatest contribution to the Wild.

He deserves credit for his work on the ice with Kirill and for taking a player who speaks no English from the KHL and making him feel at home on the other side of the world. Zuccarello’s openness to his new teammate allowed Kaprizov to acclimate to a new life while maintaining his world-class hockey abilities.

Zuccarello deserves commendation for the teammate he is and the leadership he showed in nurturing the best player in Wild history like he was one of his children. “Uncle Kirill,” they called him.

No one has done more to bring out the best in his linemates on and off the ice. We can no longer overlook what he has accomplished for this organization in such a short period.

His vision and creativity are among the primary reasons Zuccarello and Kaprizov click so well on the ice. Zuccarello is unique in nearly all aspects. However, he can notably find Uncle Kirill nearly anywhere on the ice. The puck tends to travel along the boards or through the center lane during a hockey game, but that isn’t the case with Minnesota’s top line.

Zuccarello has almost a soccer-like sense of finding lanes across the ice and through moving traffic, and he’s good at it. His vision and creativity aren’t affected by age, and he still impacts games nightly.

The relationship between Kirill and Zuccarello is perhaps the most important dynamic to the Wild’s success this season. It’s a chemistry Kirill doesn’t have with anyone else.

He detailed it slightly during the season last February:

“I play with him last four years,” Kaprizov said, “and he’ll hold, hold, hold, and then he knows where I go, where his other partners going. It’s Zuccy.”

If the Wild want to maintain their playoff trajectory, Kaprizov must continue playing at a Hart Trophy level. That requires “Zuccy” on the other side of whoever skates between them.

Bill Guerin knows that. Guerin rewarded Zuccarello with a two-year $8.25 million extension that aligns with the end of Kaprizov’s contract, making him a free agent at the end of 2025-26 at 38 years old. It’s hard to believe the Wild would offer Zuccarello a third contract to remain at that point in his career. At the same time, Guerin tends to reward players he trusts with a contract, regardless of age. Zuccarello is arguably a top-5 player on the Wild roster while being the second oldest. 

The tight-lipped Kaprizov has given little indication of his expectations for his next contract. We know Kaprizov wants to win. Should Zuccarello retire after his current contract, would that lessen Minnesota’s desirability for Kaprizov? Should Zuccarello choose not to retire but not be offered an extension, what impact would that have on a Kaprizov extension?

It’s all speculative. Enjoy the current ride for as long as possible. Batman and Robin are entertaining to watch right now.