When the Rangers made the organizational decision to re-build a flawed roster, there was immediate debate about the future of Mats Zuccarello. At the time, he had 1.5 years left on his (very affordable) contract and had turned 30 in training camp. I don’t think there was anyone out there claiming that Zucc was running out of gas, but it was fair to say there was some uncertainty about where he fit best in the future plans of the organization.
Fast forward to the present; the Rangers had traded almost all their pending UFA’s and pulled the trigger on trading their captain and number one defenseman, Ryan McDonagh to the Lightning in exchange for futures.