Zuccarello: 'Communication wasn't really there' from Rangers before trade
Mats Zuccarello is disappointed in the way his lengthy tenure with the New York Rangers came to an end.
Ahead of his return to Madison Square Garden on Monday night, the Minnesota Wild forward lamented the way things went down before the Rangers dealt him to the Dallas Stars before last season's trade deadline.
"You get invited to the business side of the league, where you feel at home and then suddenly they want you out of there," Zuccarello told NHL.com's Amalie Benjamin on Saturday. "It was tough to accept in the beginning because you're passionate about your team and loyal and everything like that and you gave everything every game and then suddenly it comes to an end. Suddenly they don't want you anymore, or whatever, or they go in a different direction."
The 32-year-old cited the level of communication from the club as the specific issue that bothered him the most.
"That was probably my biggest thing is the communication wasn't really there," he said. "To be there for a long time and (not to) feel that was hard, but it's no different for me than anyone else. I just think that's the bad part of the business.
"Like, I'm not stupid. You have a sense of it way before it happens, but the communication could have been better. It is what it is. ... It took me longer to accept than I ever thought it was going to be because you always have the mindset that you're going to stay there and it was your family, and then suddenly you're on a new team."
Zuccarello spent his first eight-plus NHL seasons with the Rangers before they traded him to the Stars on Feb. 23 for two draft picks. He suffered a broken arm in his Dallas debut and played only two regular-season games after the trade, but then racked up 11 points in 13 playoff contests.
The Norwegian winger signed a five-year, $30-million contract with the Wild on July 1. He has collected 11 points in 19 games for Minnesota.
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