A veteran NHL forward has a new deal. News emerged that the Los Angeles Kings have signed the Mats Zuccarello contract with the Norwegian standout. The contract is for $1 million and is for one year. This deal has an average salary cap hit of $1 million and the contract runs through the end of the 2026-27 season.
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Mats Zuccarello Contract Signed by Los Angeles Kings
Zuccarello has played for the New York Rangers, Dallas Stars, and Minnesota Wild over his 16-year NHL career. The 38-year-old supplied 15 goals and 39 assists for 54 points in 59 games last season. He logged an average of 18 minutes, 39 seconds of ice time last season with the Wild. Zuccarello had a Corsi for of 59.2 and a relative Corsi of 14.8.
The veteran forward has 232 goals and 512 assists for 744 points in 963 career games. He was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Rangers after a standout career in Norway and Sweden. He also spent a couple of seasons with Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the NHL, but he returned to the Blueshirts after the 2012-13 NHL lockout.
Zuccarello has represented his native Norway on plenty of occasions. He was also part of the Team Europe squad that surprisingly finished second at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
(Credit Image: © Alex Cave/ZUMA Press Wire)
What It Means
The veteran forward may be short in stature, but he’s come up large in the goal department. Zuccarello has been an important scorer for many of his teams.
One issue is that he hasn’t played in all 82 games in his NHL career. He missed nearly 30 games last season and the closet he got to playing in all 82 games was in 2015-16 with the Rangers.
Despite this, he is a double-digit goal scorer that can be a solid part of the middle six for a contending team. He may be in the latter stages of his career, but he can still contribute to a team.
Zuccarello is still hoping her can prove it with this deal. Los Angeles is taking a minimal risk with this contract.
Main photo by: James Guillory-Imagn Images
