The biggest and most common mistake GMs around the league make is sign good-but-not-great players into their mid 30s. Basically every player starts somewhat declining in their late 20s or early 30s, but with stars this means they are still good players even with the decline. That's generally not the case with lesser players like Zucker who plummet to buyout range quickly, usually around the age of 32-33. Player's skillset and how he takes cares of himself of course comes to play here, but generally that's the way it goes. If you look around the league, there are so many ~33 year old used-to-be-good-but-not-great players who have either been bought out or are buyout material because of their now terrible contracts.
Because Zucker was on a bridge deal after ELC, the Wild are in a good position and don't have to worry about him hitting that mid 30s mark here during his 3rd contract. They could give him 7 years and reasonably expect him to complete it without major regress. However, Zucker might be more interested in a 4-5 year deal because that would almost guarantee him another big UFA contract, something he's unlikely to get after a 7 year deal. There's also the case of motivation; it might be better for the Wild too to not have Zucker playing with "this is the last meaningful contract of my career" attitude.
If you can get Zucker signed for a bit cheaper with longer term, say 4.85M for 7 years, you should. But that's probably not going to happen, as surely Zucker is aware of the implications it has to his next contract. Therefore, I think a 5 year deal at 5.2M should be doable and fair for everyone.
