In his first game against real competition at the World Hockey Championships, Norwegian phenom Mats Zuccarello-Aasen was a -2 and held without a shot during Canada's 12-1 whitewash of Norway.Zuccarello-Aasen, the Swedish Elite League MVP, is rumored to be signing with the Rangers after the tournament.
...i have had concerns about the kid since hearing of the Rangers interest last month. And I've received numerous e-mails from readers bashing me for it. But today's game against bigger, faster players than he is used to facing will hopefully quell some of the excitement for the 5' 6" European.
...i'm sorry to sound like such a hater, but until this kid can show me he can compete at the highest level I'm going to be skeptical.
Scotty Hockey also offers a word of caution on Zuccarello-Aasen.
For Team Canada, Marc Staal had an assist in 15:29 of ice time, Michael Del Zotto was held scoreless in 8:40 and Chad Johnson stopped all seven shots he faced in relief of Chris Mason.
6 comments:
For a moment there I thought Don Cherry might have taken over your blog. First game against real competition? Norway has faced both Sweden and the Czech republic prior to the canada game. I also think you might underestimate the quality of the swedish elite league. If you 're the leagues top scorer and selected as MVP (as voted by the players) you most definitely have a lot of skill. The SEL is probably the third best in the world. Zuccarello has all the tools to become a good NHL player, and he's also a scorer, which is something the Rangers are in desperate need of. There are no guarantees for success (is there ever?), but as a ranger fan, I for one would be excited if he signed. Thanks for a great blog btw, keep up the good work!
Greetings from Henrik Lundqvist's old home town Gothenburg
Kim, I appreciate your support and respect your opinion, but neither Sweden nor the Czech Republic sent their A squads to the Worlds and while the Swedish Elite League has produced top NHLers (Lundqvist) it is far from being a barometer of NHL success.
Trust me, if he signs with the Rangers, I hope I eat crow on this, but until then I will remain a skeptic.
Ahhh you trashed on the nickname "Zuccarello-Awesome." Its so good, don't trash it!!!
love the blog!
that being said, I think you have to take it a little easy with zucc. Yesterday you're saying how he might prove you wrong and now that he goes -2 he's the next hugh jessiman. We all know he's no alexander ovechkin or sidney crosby. But maybe, after a little while of getting acclimated to the NHL style, can be a good 2nd liner and can provide the secondary scoring we so desperately could use. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he's a proven player in Europe, and it's possible he could do it in the states. No guarantees, but you can't definitively say he won't.
I say you take it easy and give him a little time.
I have to agree with Charlie here. I'd like to see what he can do. I don't think there's much to lose in signing him. Of course there's no guarantee that he'll be a top scorer in the world's best league and in front of one of the most demanding crowds, but two of the top four scorers this season were former SEL players (H.Sedin and Niclas Bäckström). He also played on the same team as Peter Forsberg and ex-ranger Markus Näslund this season, and he was better than both of them. He's also young and developing, so I really hope Sather get him to sign.
And sure the swedes and the czechs didn't bring their best squads, but neither did Canada. I'd say they're about equally matched. But anyway, all of this is just speculation. Let's hope the roster looks good after july 1st and at camp in september, with or without Zuccarello. Let's go rangers!
he isnt excatly playing on a team with NHL talent either...which could have made him better when playing against a team like canada
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