Mats Zuccarello

Last Season

Fifteen goals and 54 points in 59 games, six of the goals on the power play. That is a point a game from a player who has been in the league since 2010 and is listed at 181 pounds.

The Finesse Game

The vision is the whole file. He plays the half-wall on the power play the way a point guard plays the top of the key: holding the puck, moving one defender, then delivering a pass that was available for about a quarter of a second. He throws it flat and hard, which is why his passes get one-timed rather than settled.

At even strength he is a possession player. He protects the puck below the goal line, works the cycle patiently, and rarely turns it over trying to force something through the middle. The shot is a decoy more often than a weapon, but it is good enough that goaltenders cannot ignore it.

The skating has never been fast and is slower now. He compensates with anticipation and by simply not going where he would need speed.

The Physical Game

There is not much of it, and there never was. He is easily moved off the puck by a strong defenceman and takes a lot of punishment along the wall for a small player. He does not avoid the traffic, which is why he keeps taking that punishment at an age when most players his size are gone.

The Intangibles

Undrafted out of Norway, more than 960 games, and a reputation as an excellent teammate everywhere he has been. Younger skilled players tend to improve alongside him because he makes the puck arrive where they can use it.

The risk is entirely age. He is thirty-nine, his game depends on hands and reads rather than legs, which is the profile that ages best — right up until the season it does not.