Of all the players scheduled for salary arbitration in the coming weeks, perhaps no case is likely to go all the way through the hearing and the decision than that of Jason Zucker. The Minnesota Wild forward is coming off of an incredible year, scoring a career-high 33 goals and 64 points, both of which were top-three for Minnesota. However, he is also coming off of a $2MM salary and is due a substantial raise. The problem with this scenario is that the Wild are lacking in cap flexibility, facing less than $11MM in space with both Zucker and young stalwart defender Matt Dumba yet to sign. A lack of cap space cannot be used as an argument in an arbitration hearing, but Minnesota will use whatever else they can to drive down the price on Zucker. If they are unsuccessful, Zucker is likely to land in the $5MM+ range that could make things difficult on the Wild and possibly force a trade.
For what it’s worth, Zucker hopes that it won’t come to that. Speaking with Dane Mizutani of TwinCities.com, Zucker confirms that he and agent Eustace King are still busy negotiating with the Wild in hopes of coming to a resolution. Zucker states:
“I want to be in Minnesota; I love Minnesota. My family roots are now here. This is a second home to us and I want to be here. We have a great team. We have a lot of really good things going for us. … If it was my choice, I’d be here playing for the Wild next season.”
The 26-year-old met his wife in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and the couple now have two kids. Mizutani writes that Zucker is also very involved with the community, including leading a campaign to support a local children’s hospital. He clearly has strong ties to the area and a passion for the organization and would like to stay put.
With that said, Zucker also understands the reality of the situation. He adds that “it’s part of the business. If I get traded, it is what it is and I’ll look forward to a fresh start.” Zucker is confident in his ability, even stating that he feels he has room to get better and would likely expect to be compensated as such. Zucker sounds like he is honestly hoping to remain with Minnesota, but also doesn’t sound like a player about to take a hometown discount. Only time, and possibly an arbitrator, will tell what happens next with Zucker and the Wild.
The Wild would be dumb to move Zucker. Unfortunately they may have no choice because they’ve handcuffed themselves with the Parise deal. The Wild would be better suited to move Ryan Suter. He’s a stud but he may be their most attractive, expensive option even after coming off an injury shortened year.
They’re a bit handcuffed by those two deals, but that’s not the real problem here. The Wild could work out the cap situation if it was just those two, but Chuck Fletcher handing out no moves to everyone has been the real problem. Just one example, if not for the unnecessary early extension to Koivu, with a no move on it as well, the Wild could easily lock up Zucker and Dumba by letting Koivu walk.
The Suter and Parise deals obviously do soak up a lot of space and it’s easy to zero in on them when it seems like one or the other is always hurt… but there’s plenty of other room to work with if done wisely. I don’t begrudge Fletcher for doing what he thought he had to do to put a winner on the ice (and a couple of those seasons, a very strong roster woefully underperformed in the playoffs) , but he way he filled out the roster really is limiting.
I’d hate to see Zucker be a cap casualty.
Can someone please explain to me why the Wild signed Greg Pateryn to a $6.75M deal when they needed to resign Zucker and Dumba? It seem like they could’ve spent half that and gotten a player like that. They may lose Zucker and Dumba? Look no further than that deal as to why
Totally agree, I assume they had their minds made about up what they were going to do about the cap problem before signing Pateryn, but it would suck if Zucker was the one they wanted to move on from.
Just out of curiosity…if they cut Koivu…what would be the cap hit for this season? Could his contract be spread out or is it one big hit?
Buying out Koivu’s contract would save the Wild about $4.1 mil this year, $3.1 next year and then for about $1.85 for the next 2 years after that. But I extremely doubt they would do that because of the history he has with the team and that he is still an effective player in used in the proper manner. The real question is will they play him as the 3C.