Jason Zucker's best statistical season coming into the year was 2014-15 when he put up an impressive 21 goals and five primary assists in just 51 games. Unfortunately, his breakout season was cut short by a broken clavicle. And after an extremely disappointing 2015-16 season where Zucker only managed only 11 goals and five primary assists while playing 71 games, it looked like that mini breakout season would be the outlier.
While his style of play has always been entertaining as hell, Zucker would often disappear for long stretches, having minimal impact on games. Much of the inconsistency was probably just a young player trying to figure out how to play in the NHL, but it also couldn't have helped too much to have years of Mike Yeo harping on Zucker's defensive shortcomings instead of focusing on and exploiting his obvious offensive talents.