The Minnesota Wild’s decision to let Mats Zuccarello walk in free agency may have been about more than money, age or roster turnover. According to Elliotte Friedman, there was a real concern inside the organization that Zuccarello and Kirill Kaprizov were too tightly linked for the good of the rest of the attack.
That’s the heart of the issue, and it explains why a move that surprised plenty of people suddenly makes a little more sense. Zuccarello left for a one-year, $1 million deal with the Los Angeles Kings after seven seasons in Minnesota, and the fit with Kaprizov had been obvious for years. But Friedman said on his 32 Thoughts podcast that one coach viewed that chemistry as a problem.
“I think some people were surprised that they would move Zuccarello when he played so well with Kaprizov,” Friedman said on his 32 Thoughts podcast. “This coach said to me that sometimes when he watched them, it was almost like two [players] on the ice versus five.
And he said, he wasn’t criticizing those two guys, but he said, when they were out there, they were looking for each other so much, and they were so in simpatico. It was almost like the other three guys on the ice from Minnesota were not involved.
He said on some level, it made it…not easier to defend…but it wasn’t as effective for the Wild as it could have been. And he wondered if that was the reason why Minnesota decided to move on.”
That line of thinking matches other reporting around the situation. Michael Russo of The Athletic suggested the Wild were frustrated by Zuccarello’s habit of “drag [Kaprizov] into an east-west game.” Bill Guerin also pointed to the need for Minnesota to get younger and faster if it wants to survive the playoff grind, and that helped pave the way for Zuccarello’s exit and the addition of free agent Maxim Shabanov.
It’s the kind of move that won’t sit easily with fans. Zuccarello was a favorite, and the Wild are coming off a season that ended with a second-round loss to the Colorado Avalanche in five games after their first-round breakthrough, their first since 2015. Still, the front office appears to believe the tradeoff could make the offense more dangerous overall.
Kaprizov has already piled up 230 goals and 475 points in six NHL seasons, and Zuccarello was a major part of that production. The veteran assisted on 93 of Kaprizov’s regular-season goals, which is 40.4%, and also set up nine of his 19 career playoff goals.
Even with Kaprizov coming off a 45-goal, 89-point season, the Wild may believe the next step is getting more players involved instead of leaning so heavily on one familiar connection. That could mean Shabanov, and it could also mean more from whoever ends up centering the top line, whether that’s Joel Eriksson Ek or Dylan Larkin coming in via trade.
There’s also a belief that other pieces can help carry the playmaking load. Quinn Hughes’s passing ability and Brock Faber’s improving offensive game could both take another step, which would further reduce the need for Zuccarello to be the main conduit to Kaprizov.
None of that will make the departure sting less for fans. But if the Wild are right, spreading the offense around could make them harder to defend. Minnesota finished 10th in the league with 3.27 goals per game last season, and the hope is that a more balanced attack can push that number higher next year.
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