Jason Zucker on trade rumors as Wild fall to Avs: ‘Whatever happens, happens’ (2024)

At this point in time, Jason Zucker’s head must feel like one of those speed bags being battered at the gym.

Two years ago, the Wild left wing followed a 33-goal season by signing a five-year, $27.5 million contract with the hope of landing some job security so he could spend the peak years of his NHL career with the franchise that drafted him in the second round in 2010.

But for the second year in a row, Zucker finds himself the subject of trade rumors every single day.

His mind has to be further scrambled just by the fact that he entered Sunday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche on the fourth line for a third game in a row alongside captain Mikko Koivu and grinder Ryan Hartman.

Sure, Zucker was promoted back up to his second-line spot after the Wild fell behind two goals in the second period and looked to be motivated to prove his worth to coach Bruce Boudreau, but the Wild couldn’t complete the rally despite playing desperation hockey the final period before ultimately falling to the Avs, 3-2.

Zucker is clearly not a happy camper right now, especially after Boudreau chose to downgrade him in the lineup following Tuesday’s win over the Chicago Blackhawks.

Asked Sunday morning if he was given any inclination as to why from Boudreau, a short-and-sweet Zucker said, “I haven’t heard a word. I’m playing for my teammates. That’s it.”

But he also can’t be happy with the fact his name is yet again running rampantly through the rumor mill.

Zucker, 28, had to figure his time in Minnesota was safe late last July when Paul Fenton was abruptly dismissed as general manager. Three different times — that we know of — Zucker was close to being dealt last season by Fenton.

The first time came at the 2018 draft to the Arizona Coyotes. The second time came at the 2019 trade deadline to the Calgary Flames. The third time came in late May/early June when a deal, sources say, was actually consummated with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

But Phil Kessel wouldn’t waive his no-trade clause to come to Minnesota and Zucker ended up sticking until at least now.

But here we are again: Feb. 24 is the trade deadline, and everybody’s assuming Zucker could be the odd guy out, whether it’s within the next two weeks or at the draft.

It’s believed first-year GM Bill Guerin addressed the team before late January’s All-Star break and bye and candidly told players to get their act together, or there would be significant changes this month.

But asked if he has talked to Guerin specifically about his status, Zucker said Sunday morning, “Heard nothing. Whatever happens, happens. I’m done dealing with it. I’m done worrying about it.”

Zucker has a 10-team no-trade clause, one that’s believed to include almost every Canadian team and a handful of ones in the United States. One team, sources say, not on his “no” list is the Penguins, Guerin’s old team, and as The Athletic has reported multiple times both in Minnesota and Pittsburgh, Zucker is still a player the Penguins are interested in and have done due diligence on behind the scenes.

The big reason why it could be just a matter of time, whether it’s this month or this summer, that the Wild trade Zucker is because they ultimately have to create a top-six spot for prospect Kirill Kaprizov.

Guerin has admitted this fact to The Athletic as the team prepares to sign Kaprizov once his KHL contract with CSKA Moscow expires April 30.

Mats Zuccarello is 32 and in the first year of a five-year, $30 million contract with a full no-move clause, so he’s likely immovable. Kevin Fiala has scored four goals in his past four games and has the speed and skill and hands that few Wild players have had in history, let alone on this version of the team.

So it would seem unlikely that Guerin would part with Fiala.

Zach Parise is 35 and has five years left on his 13-year, $98 million contract with a full no-move. The other wingers on the team include Jordan Greenway, Ryan Donato, Luke Kunin and Hartman. All four would be tradeable, but that wouldn’t necessarily open up that spot for Kaprizov unless one of the top-six forwards was downgraded in the lineup.

So, by process of elimination, it just feels like Zucker’s the one residing in the spot that could be opened up for Kaprizov, who is second in the KHL with 25 goals, third with 51 points, became the the youngest player to record 100 goals in the KHL at 22 years and 170 days back in October and in 2018 scored the Golden Goal at the Winter Olympics.

What’s more, even though Kaprizov is listed as a left-shot right wing, his agent, Dan Milstein, says Kaprizov can and has played both sides for CSKA Moscow and the National Team and has mostly played left wing this season with Linden Vey and Mikhail Grigorenko.

So, in other words, the Wild wouldn’t have to displace Zuccarello or Fiala, who are both left-shot right wings, and could use Kaprizov on the left side.

Sunday’s game was an up-and-down one for Zucker.

He didn’t get much done on his line with Koivu and Hartman, and with the game tied at 1-1 in the second period, it was his offensive-zone turnover that led to Jared Spurgeon’s questionable hooking penalty on a breakaway that led to Nathan MacKinnon’s go-ahead power-play goal.

GOAL. Nathan MacKinnon scores on the man advantage to give Colorado another lead.

2-1. pic.twitter.com/l0pSdLpi6q

— Hockey Wilderness (@hockeywildernes) February 10, 2020

Soon after, the Wild fell behind by two goals and in need of offense, Boudreau promoted Zucker back to his second-line left wing spot with Kunin and Zuccarello.

Zucker was also put back on the power play and looked to have an extra strut his step again, particularly in the third period when he pickpocketed MacKinnon for a Wild rush.

“I thought he started to skate. That’s the Jason we’ve seen before and when he skates, he creates things and he opens up holes,” Boudreau said after the defeat. “He’s a big, big part of our team and we need him to be a big part of our team, so I hope he can keep it up.”

There’s no doubt Zucker was much more of a threat, but since returning from a broken tibia, he hasn’t produced as efficiently as before (seven goals and 12 points in 14 games before the injury).

In his past 11 games, Zucker has two goals and three assists with 14 shots on goal. Since the break, he has one assist in five games.

“I want to get his game to where it was and capable of being,” Boudreau said earlier in the day.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Zucker here in the next few weeks.

The Wild’s three-game winning streak came to an end Sunday night and the loss pushed them again to four points back of a playoff spot. If Zucker starts producing and the Wild can inch closer to the playoff bubble or into a playoff spot, it may make it awfully difficult on Guerin to actually move Zucker now opposed to the summer.

But if they stay on the periphery of the top-eight, it could spur Guerin to deal Zucker provided there’s a trade offer out there to his liking, particularly from his old Pens boss Jim Rutherford.

So, stay tuned on all that.

“I am proud of them for the way they kept going, there was no quit in the team whatsoever.”

📹 Hear more from Bruce Boudreau after tonight’s game against the Avalanche. pic.twitter.com/553WADA5e0

— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) February 10, 2020

Deflating goals allowed by Dubnyk

After Dubnyk’s strong 31-save effort in Dallas, Boudreau came back with goalie Devan Dubnyk despite the fact Alex Stalock won his previous two home games.

Boudreau explained Sunday morning that with no practice Saturday, he felt he should come back with the same goalie that last played.

But he added, “We’d like to see Duby be able to put a couple together and maybe get on a roll for the last 25 games.”

But it’s got to be hard for Boudreau to continue to come back with Dubnyk when he gives up soft goals.

Look, Dubnyk played well in the first and third periods and made some tough spots, but his play in the second period played a huge role in the loss.

The first goal — a shorthanded goal from way out by Pierre-Edouard Bellemare — was a bad goal, plain and simple. The second goal, Dubnyk was screened, but he was beaten on a seeing-eye shot by MacKinnon when he wasn’t square. The third goal, he punched an Ian Cole shot right into the slot and was subsequently beaten by Gabriel Landeskog’s rebound try.

GOAL. Nathan MacKinnon scores on the man advantage to give Colorado another lead.

2-1. pic.twitter.com/l0pSdLpi6q

— Hockey Wilderness (@hockeywildernes) February 10, 2020

Dubnyk accepted the blame on the first goal.

“You never want to give up a shorthanded goal or a shot from distance,” Dubnyk said. “It was a little bit of bad luck. It kind of hit me in the hip and then actually when I squeezed my hand I pulled it back in with my knob of my stick. That’s certainly one I’d like to stop. Just have to try to stop the next one. We were able to tie it to 1-1 shortly after that.”

Fiala continues to be a threat

Fiala, who along with Parise assisted on a Spurgeon power-play goal, scored his fourth goal in four games, this one also on a power play, when he deked Matt Nieto to the ice, then centered himself by flying by two penalty-killers and sweeping a beauty from the edge of the left circle by goalie Pavel Francouz.

This is just disgusting. What a player Kevin Fiala is becoming. pic.twitter.com/XpjxxyJK6I

— Hockey Wilderness (@hockeywildernes) February 10, 2020

“I controlled the puck before (Nieto) got to me and made a move,” Fiala said. “I saw guys opening up and (the PK) just sat back. I was able to move around a little bit and find an area to shoot and then I shot it.”

It was Fiala’s fourth goal in four games, and they’ve all been beauties. Asked what has gotten into him after scoring three goals in his previous 24 games and one in his previous 17, Fiala said, “I really want to get to the playoffs. I missed it once in my career — my young career. I want to be in the playoffs, so I want to give my best to the team to help make that possible.”

In an attempt to spark the Parise-Staal duo, Boudreau moved Fiala up to the top line against the Avs. He played there in the third period two nights earlier in Dallas.

“The difference between him getting a lot of ice time last year after the trade and this time is we don’t see him giving the puck up at the blue line every two seconds,” Boudreau said. “He’s getting it, he’s moving it at the right time and he’s doing some pretty good things on the power play.

“He’s got those quick hands. MacKinnon does the same. MacKinnon is MacKinnon, but at one point at our blue line, (MacKinnon) deked by two guys in the third period and it’s just boom, boom, boom with his hands. Kevin’s got that same ability.”

Staal continues to struggle

Staal was pretty much a mess all game Sunday.

Yes, he won 14 faceoffs, but he lost a key one late, took a penalty, turned the puck over before Bellemare’s shorthanded goal and was giving away pucks or whiffing on them left and right. The final one came with five seconds left off a Fiala rebound for what could have been the tying goal.

He has one goal, six assists and 21 shots in the past 13 games.

“Went over my stick,” Staal said of the final missed chance. “Right now it seems to be, for whatever reason, close but not close enough for me personally. I want to contribute and chip in with those big goals at the right times. I’ve got to keep fighting through it and gain that confidence back slowly.”

Boudreau says he will.

“You’ve known him for four years,” Boudreau said. “He’ll go not as good as he would like to be for a few games and then all of a sudden he catches fire and he’s the catalyst. If he gets going, obviously, Kevin’s playing as well as he’s played in our uniform, if he keeps that up then good things will happen for that line.”

Iowa continues to roll

Gerry Mayhew scored two more goals Sunday afternoon in a 7-4 Iowa win over Stockton and now leads the AHL with 35 goals in 42 games — nine more than Utica’s Reid Boucher, who has played one more game, and 10 more than Belleville’s Josh Norris, who has played five more games.

One game after having five points, Iowa’s all-time leading scorer, Sam Anas, had two more assists Sunday and now leads the AHL with 40 assists and 57 points. Kaapo Kahkonen leads the AHL with 19 wins.

Iowa is 8-0-1 in its past nine games, has won a franchise-record eight in a row at home, and is 17-3-2 in its past 22 overall.

Parise to be honored Saturday

On Saturday before a 4 p.m. game against the San Jose Sharks, Parise will be honored for playing his 1,000^th NHL game Friday night in Dallas. Why the family decided to wait so long to have the ceremony is in The Athletic’s feature on Parise through the eyes of his wife and mother that appeared last Thursday.

Among the dignitaries who will be in attendance to celebrate Parise’s milestone are Joe Mauer, Matt Cullen, Keith Ballard, Jamie Langenbrunner, Drew Stafford, Erik Rasmussen, Chris Porter, Neil Sheehy and his former Shattuck-St. Mary’s coach, Tom Ward, and all of their families. …

With defenseman Carson Soucy was back in the lineup after missing two games with an illness, Brad Hunt was scratched.

(Photo: Hannah Foslien / AP )