The New York Rangers beat writers are all reporting that the general vibe coming from the team was that they were getting diminishing returns from the diminutive forward.
Zuccarello has six goals and 16 assists in 41 games with the Rangers and had been skating on the fourth line.
“The Norwegian Hobbit” was on the ice for just 12:58 in Thursday’s 6-2 loss to the Islanders in Nassau Coliseum. Zuccarello also was a minus-3 and did not have a registered shot on goal despite 2:22 of power play time including the two-man advantage.
Apart from his contribution during shootouts, and even that has tailed off a bit, Zuccarello really wasn’t adding much to the Rangers.
The only way Zuccarello can be promoted now according to NHL rules is if someone is injured.
On the bright side, if Zuccarello handles this with the positive and can rediscover his offensive confidence, he can be a gigantic help for the Whale who have been struggling to find any sort of consistent offense.
Given that Zuccarello just played in back to back contests with the Rangers and the Whale are about to start three games in three nights, it’s not likely that Zuccarello will play in his first contest with the Whale until Saturday night.
