Spare a thought for Mats Zuccarello.
At this time last year he was in the Stanley Cup final, though his New York Rangers would fall to the Los Angeles Kings. A spark plug who stands only 1.70 metres, Zuccarello scored 13 points over the course of that post-season and blocked 28 shots. He was the first Norwegian to play in a Cup final.
One year later and his future is less certain.
In a first-round game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, a slap shot by his teammate, Ryan McDonagh, hit Zuccarello in the head. His brain was bruised and bled; his skull fractured. He could not speak for four days. He lost feeling in one arm.
After the Rangers lost to Tampa in this year’s Eastern Conference final, Zuccarello spoke with reporters. He said the injury had been scary, but like all hockey players he just wanted to get back on the ice.
That Zuccarello was playing in the NHL at all was improbable. He did not have all life’s advantages. The son of a Sicilian father, he was raised in Oslo by a his single mother, who worked as a hairdresser.
He was not drafted by the NHL – too small – but got a contract with the Rangers after playing well for Norway at the 2010 Olympics.
His first go-round in the NHL was spent mostly in the minors. He signed with a Russian team. But late in the 2012/13 season New York brought him back, in search of an offensive spark, and he stuck around.
Zuccarello says he should be “ready to go” next season. Hopefully, his doctors will feel the same way.
rmckenzie@thenational.ae
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