Mats Zuccarello Felt Wanted in Los Angeles And Is Ready To Prove The Kings Right

Mats Zuccarello wanted to be wanted. And the LA Kings made that happen.

Zuccarello knew early in the offseason that a return to Minnesota was likely not going to be in the cards. He left with no hard feelings, saying he had an honest conversation with Wild General Manager Bill Guerin early in the process where it became clear the two sides would go in another direction.

For Zuccarello, the first feeling was a bit of sadness, mixed with some disappointment. Minnesota was home for seven years and on the ice, it was home for seven very productive years. Off the ice, it was where his children grew up and where his family was comfortable. Moving beyond that took a little bit of time. Once he did, though, the next feeling was excitement.

Excitement of something new. Excitement of having his next team be fully within his control. Excitement to be a part of something different. When he became available on July 1, Zuccarello had several offers in front of him but the first one came from Los Angeles. From the start, in conversations with Kings General Manager Ken Holland and Kings Head Coach Peter Laviolette, Zuccarello felt wanted and felt comfortable with the fit in Los Angeles. Made it an easy decision for him.

“Once free agency started, I felt like LA, the Kings were a team that was really interested in me and showed me that they had a place for me,” Zuccarello said. “I’m a simple guy and I think that’s really important to me, to play on a team where you feel like you’re wanted. I had a really good talk with Lavi and Kenny there, really good talk, I liked everything they said.”

Zuccarello elaborated on the fit, calling the Kings a “dream” for him to play for. He was on the New York Rangers team that lost to the Kings in the 2014 Stanley Cup Final and he’s had Los Angeles high on his list ever since. He feels the Kings have a combination of individual skill and a team style of hockey that has been difficult to play against as an opponent and he’s excited for the opportunity to come in and hopefully help push the organization forward.

The fit now certainly centers around Laviolette’s vision of a more offensive approach this season. It’s not necessarily that hard to play against approach, in the way that it’s always been envisioned, but now in a different way. Laviolette certainly hasn’t been shy about what he wants and Holland hasn’t been shy about stating his desire to add offensive players into the mix for Laviolette to work with. Zuccarello fits the bill there. Holland referred to Zuccarello as a player who has made offensive plays throughout his entire career. He sees him similarly to Artemi Panarin, stylistically, in that both players operate as in-zone playmakers with the puck on their stick. Neither player is fleet of foot, but both have terrific hockey IQ’s.

That feeling extended beyond just the executives as well. In speaking today, Zuccarello’s new teammate, Scott Laughton, called him one of the most underrated players in the NHL. Having played against him over the years, the plays Zuccarello makes with the puck on his stick have stood out to Laughton and he’s excited now to be on the same side.

While Zuccarello wasn’t going to spill the exact details of what he spoke about in his own conversations with Laviolette and Holland, he talked about the opportunity he was presented, which was an opportunity to prove himself on a new team. He seemed to value that angle of competition within the team.

“There are no guarantees in hockey, it’s the NHL, you have to prove yourself and I know there was a good opportunity for me to prove myself and that’s the most important thing,” he said. “I liked Lavy’s vision on how to play, how to go about the business every day, in practice, how to manage games. We had a really good talk. With Kenny too, how the LA Kings want to play this year, I really enjoyed [that also] and I’m excited about it. I think you have to earn your spot, which everyone else has to do, but I’m going to get a good opportunity to do that. Hopefully I have a chance to earn my spot.”

While I admire Zuccarello’s humble approach, this is a player who was just shy of a point-per-game pace last season. He had 21 points on the power play, which is more than any player on the Kings had. Those numbers came with Zuccarello missing 23 games. Zuccarello is a playmaker offensively and he’s joining a team that ranked in the NHL’s bottom five in goals and power-play percentage last season. It’s always nice to hear players speak about wanting to prove themselves, especially when you’re talking about a player as accomplished as Zuccarello is. In some ways, it felt like the Kings did some of the proving as well, in getting him to sign.

You improve those numbers by adding players of Zuccarello’s ability, while changing the way the Kings approach the game, stylistically.

“The conversations that I’ve had, they feel like they could play a little bit more offensively-minded at times and hopefully I can contribute with that,” Zuccarello said. “Obviously we’ve got to play a hard defensive game, but that was the understanding I got, is that we’ll try and play a little bit more in the o-zone and hopefully I can help with that. Talking to the team and organization, I’m going to get a really good opportunity to prove myself and that’s all you can ask for. Hopefully I can take that, help the team grow here and, first of all, get to the postseason and move on from there.”

Another factor about the Kings that excited Zuccarello was the chance to play with Kevin Fiala again. The pair were teammates in Minnesota, when Fiala had his best career offensive seasons, and Zuccarello thrived as well.

They were rarely linemates with the Wild – as Zuccarello played most regularly with Kirill Kaprizov – but they were teammates. Both from European countries, there was a bond there and Zuccarello seemed very excited to not only be teammates with Fiala again, but possibly play more often together on the ice.

“I talked to Kev, I have a really good relationship with Kev and he had only good things to say about the team, the city, the fans and the organization, so that was a huge help for sure,” Zuccarello added. “He’s a good friend of mine. I’m really excited that he’s a part of the team, but also the top players they have and the team that they have going into the season really excited me. He was a big factor, once I talked to him, for sure.”

Now comes the next step in the process for Zuccarello and the Kings and that’s translating these concepts and visions onto the ice.

It’s not exactly a reach to say that the Kings have not played the way they are talking about playing in a long, long time. It needs to change and for the first time in, well, a long, long time, the people who can actually impact change are talking about change. There is a focus on playing the game differently and while there are more moves to be made to really establish that goal, yesterday helped.

Zuccarello is excited to be a member of the Kings and he wants to be a part of the solution. His goals and those of the organization aligned in the short term. Now it’s time to show it on the ice.

“Work hard, have fun every day and create a team that can work for each other and hopefully go all the way,” Zuccarello ended with “That’s [the team’s] goal, that’s my goal, and hopefully we can create something here in LA.”