{"id":42349,"date":"2019-02-24T20:36:29","date_gmt":"2019-02-25T01:36:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=42349"},"modified":"2020-12-26T16:34:19","modified_gmt":"2020-12-26T21:34:19","slug":"dallas-stars-mats-zuccarello","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2019\/02\/24\/dallas-stars-mats-zuccarello\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Stars&#8217; Mats Zuccarello Injured in Promising Debut"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In his <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/nhl-teams\/stars\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dallas Stars<\/a> debut, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/z\/zuccama01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Mats Zuccarello<\/strong><\/a> exited early in the second period with an upper-body injury. He would not return and has been ruled out for the next four weeks. It was later announced he would require surgery.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Mats Zuccarello is heading back to Dallas for evaluation, but the early assessment is that he is expected to miss at least 4 weeks.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; X &#8211; Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DallasStars\/status\/1099805280345427968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 24, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h1>Dallas Stars&#8217; Mats Zuccarello Injured in Promising Debut<\/h1>\n<p>Mats Zuccarello has had an eventful 24 hours. Upon finding out he&#8217;d been traded by the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/nhl-teams\/rangers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New York Rangers<\/a>, the Norwegian winger would suit up the very next afternoon. The Dallas Stars were visiting the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/nhl-teams\/blackhawks\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chicago Blackhawks<\/a> on Sunday. While it started out promising, scoring a goal and an assist in his first two periods, things took a turn for the worst.<\/p>\n<p>Following a blocked shot, Zuccarello went down holding his arm.\u00a0The 31-year-old believes he broke his arm. Pending evaluation, the Stars initially believe their newest member will be out four weeks. Surgery should speed up recovery time. However, he&#8217;s been known to play through injuries before. In the meantime, Zuccarello will likely be able to suit up before playoffs get underway. Dallas&#8217; regular season concludes April 6th. While he rehabilitates, the rest of the team will fight to stay in the postseason race.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This is the shot Mats Zuccarello blocked in the second period. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0912YKThAW\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/0912YKThAW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Matthew DeFranks (@MDeFranks) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MDeFranks\/status\/1099793609325457408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 24, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>What This Means For The Future<\/h2>\n<p>It&#8217;s not difficult picturing the Stars without Zuccarello. However, they sure will miss his presence. His glimpse in a Dallas jersey was just what General Manager\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/n\/nillji01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jim Nill<\/a><\/strong> was hoping for. They sit atop the Wild Card race with 67 points and 20 more games. Sunday&#8217;s win over the rolling Blackhawks was a much needed two points in which Zuccarello was integral to. The lineups will likely return to what they were prior to Saturday night&#8217;s trade.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, all eyes should be on the postseason for the Stars. The Rangers traded for Dallas&#8217; second-round pick with the condition that the Stars reach the Western Conference Final and it becomes a first rounder. This is a testament to the promise that this team shows while competing in a division as tough as the Central. They should be a worthy opponent for the Western juggernauts come April and May so long as they maintain their playoff spot.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, getting a rested Zuccarello should bolster the Stars&#8217; confidence. A storied playoff veteran in New York, the winger will bring experience to the Dallas locker room. Someone that&#8217;s reached three Eastern Conference Finals and one Stanley Cup Final is a valued leader on a young team. The future is bright while the new guy gets ready to get back on the ice.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"VHCwFqQ9SrdiXMu3R1wnQw\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.ca\/detail\/1128358434\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'VHCwFqQ9SrdiXMu3R1wnQw',sig:'wGYLgDRlOLrcD8yGmN3UaAL9EfJMGSPSQj0wJnHU9ME=',w:'594px',h:'391px',items:'1128358434',caption: true ,tld:'ca',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In his Dallas Stars debut, Mats Zuccarello exited early in the second period with an upper-body injury. He would not return.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2461,"featured_media":42359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29,34],"tags":[102,37,5738,1351,2569,38,955],"class_list":["post-42349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stars","category-news","tag-dallas-stars","tag-hockey","tag-hockey-news","tag-mats-zuccarello","tag-news","tag-nhl","tag-nhl-news"],"modified_by":"Alex Metzger, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2461"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}