Zuccarello aims to continue unlikely NHL success story with Wild in Game 6

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota Wild are looking at a steep climb in the Western Conference First Round, facing elimination in Game 6 against the Vegas Golden Knights here on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; FDSNNO, SCRIPPS, ESPN, TVAS2, SN360).

Fortunately, they have an example of beating long odds sitting in their dressing room.

Forward Mats Zuccarello has overcome every obstacle put in his way to carve out a successful NHL career, fashioning a Hollywood-type tale of perseverance and dedication.

The 37-year-old isn’t a “5-foot-nothing, 100-and-nothing (pound)” football player dreaming of taking one snap for the University of Notre Dame, like the athlete chronicled in the blockbuster film “Rudy.”

His story is better.

The odds of him making it were as long, if not longer. His physical limitations were as much a detriment in getting noticed. But the payoff wasn’t one shift or one game.

It has been one of the most improbable careers the NHL has known: 15 seasons, 902 regular-season games and counting. The undrafted forward from Norway (5-8, 181) should be lionized for realizing his dream of playing in the game’s greatest league despite no clear-cut path at the time to do so.

“You’re a small-sized kid from Norway and no one thought, not even myself, that you were going to have the chance to play in the best league, against the best players, for this many years,” Zuccarello told NHL.com this week. “That’s for sure something you don’t take for granted. I was still playing in Norway at 19 and most players are in the NHL by then.”

Zuccarello’s trek to the NHL was convoluted.

He signed with the New York Rangers as a free agent in time for the 2010-11 season, buoyed by a starring role on the top line for a plucky Norway team at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. He had three points (one goal, two assists) in four games while playing with Patrick Thoresen, one of nine Norway-born players with NHL experience, and Tore Vikingstad.

Zuccarello’s small stature and big game made him a viral sensation in the hockey world and opened the eyes of NHL talent evaluators.

“Those two guys helped me a lot in that tournament,” Zuccarello said. “They were a little older than me and kind of dragged me through that tournament and helped me come over here. That was a really fun experience and the first experience of playing on the big stage.”

There would be more.

Zuccarello became a fan favorite for the Rangers, scoring big goals and expending bigger energy. The Dallas Stars acquired him in a trade for their Stanley Cup Playoff run in 2019, and the Wild signed him as a free agent the following offseason.

He has evolved into a relentless two-way player, a valued leader and a top-six mainstay wherever he has been.

In 904 regular-season games, Zuccarello has 690 points (217 goals, 473 assists).

“I’ve had a tremendous amount of respect for ‘Zuccy’ as a player, coaching against him in the League,” said Wild coach John Hynes, who is in his 10th season as an NHL head coach and second with Minnesota. “He is a tenacious, competitive guy that has a lot of backbone. I really appreciate that about him.

“He can’t get to where he got to [without it]. He’s a highly talented player, but you look at him now, he’s smart, he plays both sides of the puck. The more competitive, highly contested games, he finds ways to compete. He’s got an unbelievable competitive spirit to get to where he’s gotten and now you see it every day.”

The Wild will need Zuccarello’s competitive spirit and more on Thursday. Teams facing a 3-2 deficit in a best-of-7 series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs lose the series 79.2 percent of the time (357-94).

By all accounts, Zuccarello was never supposed to be here.

His hockey dream was born in Oslo and nurtured with professional club Frisk Asker, about 12 miles southwest of the capital. A place on the national team or in one of the bigger European leagues was the reachable goal to achieve.

Zuccarello did just that, signing with MoDo in Sweden as a 20-year-old.

“My goal was to get to Sweden, that was really it,” he said. “I made it. So, it’s kind of amazing to be a part of this.”

There was no road map from Norway to the NHL.

Only a handful of players had done it before him, Espen Knutsen and Thoresen the most famous of the bunch. Knutsen, who played for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and Columbus Blue Jackets, lasted the longest, playing 207 regular-season games between 1997 and 2003, and was the most accomplished until Zuccarello arrived.

In the pre-Internet era, his understanding of the NHL -- and the Stanley Cup -- came from word of mouth and DVDs. Zuccarello bought the DVD documenting the Colorado Avalanche’s run to the 2001 Stanley Cup championship, capped by a seven-game victory against the New Jersey Devils in the Cup Final.

“Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic were my favorite players; I probably watched that video 1,000 times,” Zuccarello said, laughing at the memory and the idea he is playing for that same trophy right now. “So, I kind of knew how big it was, but I never thought I would have the chance to play in the playoffs or even come over here. It was more of a dream and admiring those players.”

Now he is admired by his countrymen, by other players who realize the journey to the NHL isn’t a fantasy. Zuccarello has charted the course for them. It’s one of his most cherished accomplishments.

“It’s great for Norwegian hockey and people back home to see that there is a chance,” he said, modest about his contribution. “I think it’s good for kids from Norwegian hockey to see you do have a chance coming from Norway to be a part of this and have a chance to play against the best players in the world.”

For the Wild, Zuccarello is a leader, a graybeard providing counsel and leading by example for a team that is being driven by young players like forwards Matt Boldy, 24, and Kirill Kaprizov, 28, and defenseman Brock Faber, 22.

In this series, he has three points (one goal, two assists) in five games.

Hynes uses Zuccarello as an example for his younger teammates. He doesn’t cheat offense by ignoring the other side of the puck and is a high hockey-IQ player who is often one stride ahead of the puck. Hynes listens when Zuccarello pushes back with what he is seeing on the ice.

“Because I am old, people listen,” Zuccarello said.

It’s been a full hockey life for this Norwegian trailblazer, more full than he could have ever imagined as a teenager dreaming of being Sakic or Forsberg.

He’s not ready to discuss it in detail as he lists his accomplishments in the NHL and with the national team. He wants more. He remains greedy.

“Right now, you wish you could be saying the Stanley Cup, obviously,” Zuccarello said.

A win in Game 6 on Thursday would keep that dream alive -- at least for another two days.

He won’t ask for more.