Roughly 48 hours earlier, Zucker was skating in his first practice with his new team, taking advantage of an opportunity to learn systems and acclimate to a new style of play.
With fewer than 20 games remaining in the 2023-24 campaign, the window to get acquainted is closing quickly.
“It's a crash course, and you’ve got to do what you can,” Zucker said. “I'm hoping that I have it down in the next week or so, just to feel good going into the playoffs and down the stretch. I’m going to do everything I can on my part to make sure that I fill in the gaps with any questions I have, anything that isn't completely set in stone, and that I feel good about it.”
“It’s a hard spot for [Zucker and Anthony Beauvillier],” Predators Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “You come in and we play two games - and back-to-back afternoon games, to boot - and you’re not really accustomed to a lot of the things. But when they skate, they're very effective… It’s tough. It took a lot of our guys a lot of the year to kind of figure out what I was expecting and the pace I expect, the relentlessness I expect.”
With two seasons spent playing under Brunette, the former Minnesota Wild assistant coach, Zucker may already have an inkling of what to expect.
“It's nice having some familiarity there,” he said. “[Brunette] is a great guy. He taught me a lot when I was in Minnesota and when he was an assistant, just about the game, how to play the game and how to be a pro. I mean, there's a lot of little things that he taught me, so I have a lot to thank him for over the years. But now having him as head coach, his style of play I think suits my game really well. And I think that's an exciting thing for me.”
Indeed, Zucker’s relentless work ethic and scoring ability - try six different 20-goal seasons - make the veteran of 682 NHL games a prime candidate for Brunette’s Predators, with General Manager Barry Trotz saying as much at his trade deadline press conference.
“He's very competitive, he’s got a good hockey IQ, he's driven, he brings a lot of life and he can play any kind of game that you want to,” Trotz said. “He has lots of skill to play that game, but when it gets dirty and nasty and into the trenches, he can do that as well.”
So far, Zucker’s three games with Nashville have proven Trotz right. For his seven shots on goal recorded thus far, No. 16 has recorded a nearly equal number in hits per 60 minutes (7.3).
“I don't really make too many friends out on the ice,” Zucker said. “And I think that's a good thing to have down the stretch in these kinds of playoff-style games and then into the playoffs. So for me, I'm hoping to bring that to this team and show my worth.”
While he may be a thorn for opposing teams, inside the Predators locker room Zucker has already begun to gel with his new teammates.
