Read: Mats Zuccarello Is Happy To Not Be On The Fourth Line
In the Hartford Courant, Paul Doyle spoke with Mats Zuccarello who agreed that it is better for him as a player to be in the AHL than on the fourth line in the NHL:
“I’m not going to say I wasn’t disappointed that I didn’t get a shot to play on one of the best lines there or one of the top lines. But at the same time, if they don’t have room for me, they don’t have room for me. There’s nothing I can do. Obviously I’m disappointed that I didn’t get a good shot. I just have to go down and show them that I’m worthy of a shot. So we’ll see. … Yeah, at least it’s better than playing fourth line.”
John Tortorella told the media yesterday that Zucc was sent down because he wasn’t getting enough ice time.
I agree with Leslie Treff at Hockey’s Future when she writes “If Zuccarello is to play in the NHL, it must be in a top six role. He is not a checker with a scoring touch, nor will he be most effective on the fourth line getting fourth line minutes, especially when the head coach does not roll four lines consistently.”
That has been my stance with Zucc all along. Third line with Derek Stepan and Wojtek Wolski is fine, but that line turned into the fourth line, Wolski got hurt, Stepan got moved up and Zucc was left alone. I love his skill set but I do think that it may be time to start entertaining offers for Zucc, especially if they can try to pry a nice defenseman and set a bit more balance on the blue line.
