Zuccarello: Being Loyal Is Nonsense

[Gospel of Prospal]

Still love you, Zuccs. You're still my favorite Ranger of the 21st Century.

 

[holy]

Still love you, Zuccs. You're still my favorite Ranger of the 21st Century.

Thanks man.

 

[Atas2000]

 

[smoneil]

Question: Is Zucc's beef that he was traded in the first place, or that the communication leading up to it (ie: letting him know whether he was in the long term plan) was poor? It seems 99% of the fans in this thread are reacting as if it's the former. My sense was more that his issue has always been about the communication (which, while I love the Rangers, non-communication with players who deserved to be kept in the loop HAS been an issue in the past--Leetch being the most notable example).

 

[Webster]

Question: Is Zucc's beef that he was traded in the first place, or that the communication leading up to it (ie: letting him know whether he was in the long term plan) was poor? It seems 99% of the fans in this thread are reacting as if it's the former. My sense was more that his issue has always been about the communication (which, while I love the Rangers, non-communication with players who deserved to be kept in the loop HAS been an issue in the past--Leetch being the most notable example).

You are 100% correct.

It wasn't the trade itself, Zuccarello has been in this league for a decade, he knows the business and seen a lot of good friends being traded. It was lack of communication and information. He didn't know anything for sure until he received a late night 30 sec call from the GM: -You've been traded to Dallas, you're going to play in Chicago tomorrow. Flight leaves at 5am, good luck.

That was it...after all these years and everything he did for the Rangers. No wonder he was, and still is pissed at them. Some GM's forget they are dealing with human beings, this was total lack of respect.

 

[P10p]

Zuccarello: Teams need to be loyal
Also Zuccarello: Let's sign with the team offering the most in free agency

Amazing Kreiderman: reading comprehension is hard

 

[bearcountry17]

Belichick would agree, just from the opposite stand point.

It's easy for everyone to be loyal when you are okay with mediocrity. It's easy to be loyal when times are good (enough).

I think the real cut throat champions out there could give 0 fricks about the crest on their jersey, or their relationship with the GM/player.

We all look at the Bruins (myself included) as a team...a group that's all in it for themselves. Look at their core...

Marchand's contract was player friendly until he broke out and the cap also went up.
Chara took the highest dollar when he signed as a UFA.
Rask got what many thought was a pretty revolutionary contract for a goalie.
Krecji has been one of the highest paid players in the NHL for many years.
Pastrnak signed before he broke out and before the inflation of RFA deals.
McAvoy signed a nice bridge, but it's still just that - a bridge to a retirement contract.
Krug broke out after his deal and is looking for a significant raise.

We, as fans, like to think our players are more loyal and have higher character than others but I just don't think it's reality. I don't doubt Pastrnak or Hedman would leave their team's in a second if it meant 3-5 million after tax addition to their yearly salary, especially if the team had a shred of a chance to be winners.

Marchand scored 37 goals the year before he signed that contract, averaging 30 goals per 82 games the previous 4 seasons. People were expecting much more than 6.125m. Everyone knew he was a much better player than the 6m dollar crew of the 2016 UFA class.

Chara took a pay cut after his UFA deal was done. His Cap hit from his UFA contract today would be equal to 14.26 in today's cap. His second deal would be only 9.48. A paycut for sure a year after winning the Norris trophy under a much higher cap. His deals of 5m with a 1.5m bonus, and 2m with a 1.25-1.75m bonus have been team friendly as well for a top pairing guy.

Rask just came off a stanley cup run with a .940 S% and a 1.88 GAA and he was payed fairly for it. I've never really seen anyone point to his deal as a huge bargain but any team desperate for that number 1 would have given him a huge pay day a la Bobrovsky.

Krejci signed that contract not long after leading the playoffs in points for the second time in 3 years and was a proven #1 center. His deal under today's cap would be 8.56 million. Again, never really seen anyone say his deal is a bargain, but he for sure could have held out for more.

Pastrnak had just scored 34 goals and 70 points as a 20 year old putting him in pretty fair air, for sure a breakout year. He had ~170 games under his belt showing a lot of flashed of what was to become. He signed for over a million less than a similar caliber player in Kuznetsov(who was coming off a down year of 59 points after hitting 77 the year before) and in the same ballpark as guys like Marleau and Radulov. He could have held out for more.

Mcavoy's bridge to me leans more team friendly. 4.9m is nothing for a guy who is your horse on defence and 3 years is a long bridge deal. You are saving at the very least 2-3 million every year on that deal.

Krug was given a pretty player friendly contract after he signed 2 very cheap one year deals so the Bruins could keep the band together. We will see with his new contract.

I will add, after the playoffs he just had and the contracts given to similar players, Charlie Coyle left a little money on the table. He could haven gotten 6.5+ or an extra year from a few teams. He carried the Bruins even strength scoring during that run. Also, Chris Wagner could have probably gone the route of Accairi or Schaller and signed for more than the 100k raise he signed for as well. Small potatoes but it all adds up. Those two being local helps though and some teams don't have that advantage.

 

[pld459666]

Why do some here feel that players should be "kept in the loop" about the future of the franchise?

Do you f***ing job. Which as players is, play hockey.

 

[Fataldogg]

Why do some here feel that players should be "kept in the loop" about the future of the franchise?

Do you f***ing job. Which as players is, play hockey.

Some people are vested in their company / place of business. I am a teacher in NYC. I've spent the last seven years teaching at the same school. I have been completely vested in the community. If I received a call at midnight from my administration, letting me know I'm being transferred to another school, I would be angry too. If you're truly vested in your craft, your business, whatever it may be, you care about the future outlook and want to be informed about what is going on. I don't see what is hard to understand about that.

 

[WesMcCauley]

Reading about all this from the sidelines as neither a Rangers fan or Zuccarello fan, it feels like the Norwegian Hobbit may have a bit of an exaggerated sense of self importance here.

No offense, but expecting to stay with a team for your whole career is nice and all, but is typically for superstars who have iron clad NMC's like his buddy Henrik Lundqvist (though utilization may vary) or guys who have won championships for their organizations like all the veteran core guys on the Kings and Hawks. And even then, there are no guarantees.

Zuccarello is a nice player but it feels like he thinks he was an more important player than he really was in New York.

He was the best forward on the team when they went deep in the playoffs multiple times and led the team in scoring 4 times... He was the best forward on a team without any superstar forwards and drove the offense for a team that had a huge lack of top end talent but still managed to score. He was damn important for NYR.

I think his point is that clubs talk about loyalty but it usually only goes one way and players should be very aware of that. Look how many teams just get rid a player and dont care about loyalty what so ever vs what happens when Tavares for example signed in Toronto.
Its natural that players get more shit for it but i think its "important" that players like Zuccarello brings it up so it gets "easier" for the players to do whats in their best interest. At the end of the day thats basically the only thing the clubs care about.

 

[WesMcCauley]

Not really...Dallas gave up a good amount to acquire him and were willing to give up a ton more to keep him, he took the best contract offered to him.

Player did what's best for player while doing a good amount of bitching that his former team did what's best for team.

How on earth is that comparable? Zucc played in Dallas for months? You arent talking about loyalty, you are talking about someone trying to sign a player they just traded for and they barely had a working relationship.

 

[pld459666]

Some people are vested in their company / place of business. I am a teacher in NYC. I've spent the last seven years teaching at the same school. I have been completely vested in the community. If I received a call at midnight from my administration, letting me know I'm being transferred to another school, I would be angry too. If you're truly vested in your craft, your business, whatever it may be, you care about the future outlook and want to be informed about what is going on. I don't see what is hard to understand about that.

If, in your line of business, it's common place to be traded as it is in the NHL, that's part of the package of being an NHL player.


It's been that way for ever.

 

[thestonedkoala]

Why do some here feel that players should be "kept in the loop" about the future of the franchise?

Do you f***ing job. Which as players is, play hockey.

Because it can interrupt your entire life.

Imagine, you have a wife and two kids. You're working and then suddenly, you're told your job is being moved to another state in a few weeks. Wouldn't you have liked some communication from the company that they were thinking of moving part or the company to another state?

These guys have family; and it's hard to simply uproot your family. Having the common courtesy to say, hey we're going in this direction and we don't think you're going to factor into those plans - we're going to trade you is a good business move. That way family can get prepared to move.

 

[pld459666]

Because it can interrupt your entire life.

Imagine, you have a wife and two kids. You're working and then suddenly, you're told your job is being moved to another state in a few weeks. Wouldn't you have liked some communication from the company that they were thinking of moving part or the company to another state?

These guys have family; and it's hard to simply uproot your family. Having the common courtesy to say, hey we're going in this direction and we don't think you're going to factor into those plans - we're going to trade you is a good business move. That way family can get prepared to move.

If im in those shoes, my family doesn't move until offseason so it's a non issue.

Pretty simple

 

[Fear the Wushu]

2 1sts were in play, 1 on making the Conf Finals the other on him resigning

Hall pretty much got the same deal and you sent that for Zucc lol Straight overpay.

 

[Chimpradamus]

Wow, there is a ton to unpack here.
So, are you a malcontent anarchist in all areas of your life?

Malcontent? Heck yes. This society is doing a nose dive, like it has regularly done for thousands of years, over and over within the same dysfunctional structure. Anarchist? Well, yes. You don't pay for my loyalty, you earn my loyalty. Otherwise it feeds deep corruption. Correct on both accounts.