Jason Zucker was waived to the AHL by the Minnesota Wild earlier today and fans went nuts while media types mocked fans for their outrage. Who was right? Who was wrong? Let’s take a look.

First, as for me, as a fan, I thought that regardless of his pre-season performances, which were cut short by 2 games due to an in-game injury, I think he deserved a spot on the Wild. He is part of the future as are the rest of the younger guys. However, if they would have kept him, they would have had to have gotten rid of someone else. That person, at least for me, would have been Zenon Konopka. However, with the very physical L.A. Kings coming to town to open both teams’ seasons and without tough guy Mike Rupp cleared to play yet, I think the Wild brass opted for Konopka’s toughness as compared to Zucker’s speed and skill. With the emotional part of my make up as a quasi-fan and quasi-media, let’s look at this objectively.

First, the Wild seemed to make this a competition between Fontaine and Zucker. Fine. If that’s the case, let’s look at how each of them performed last season when they were on even playing fields which was not the case all year as Zucker was called up to the NHL for 20 games plus the playoffs against the Blackhawks while Fontaine was not. In the AHL, Fontaine won the points battle leading the Houston Aeros with 56 points over the course of 64 games (23 goals/33 assists), while Zucker was the scoring champion for the Aeros with 24 goals/26 assists (50 points) in 55 games. In other statistical categories, Fontaine had 18 penalty minutes to Zucker’s 43, while Fontaine was plus-10 on the year and Zucker was minus-6. For comparison’s sake, Granlund had 27 games in the AHL and only registered 2 goals and 6 assists, while recording only 6 penalty minutes and he went minus-4 over the course of those 27 games.

As such, when comparing just Fontaine against Zucker, Fontaine had 0.359 goals per AHL game versus Zucker’s 0.436; Fontaine had 0.515 assists per AHL game compared to Zucker’s 0.472; Fontaine had 0.875 points per AHL game versus Zucker’s 0.909.

While in the NHL last regular season, Zucker played 20 games, had 4 goals, 1 assist, 8 penalty minutes, was plus-4 and had 34 shots. As we will be comparing shot tallies later on this analysis, let’s take a look at how Zucker’s 34 shots in 20 games compared to other similarily situated Wild players. Rupp had 27 shots in 32 games; Konopka had 18 shots in 37 games and Granlund had 36 shots in 27 games. Also, let’s not forget who registered the overtime winning goal against the Blackhawks for the Wild’s only playoff win last season. If you don’t know or don’t recall or don’t care, it was Zucker.

Since, for me, this pre-season it came down to Zucker versus Konopka and for the Wild it came down to Zucker versus Fontaine, let’s compare the three. Before everyone goes ape saying you can’t compare Zucker to Konopka because one is a wing and the other is a center, I have an easy answer for that. If Konopka is sent down, slide Granlund in as center since Granlund is currently projected to start at wing for the Wild despite being a center/wing hybrid player.

This pre-season, Fontaine got the best look as he played in all 6 games. Zucker was hurt mid-way through the first pre-season game and then missed the next 2 before coming back for the last 3. Konopka played only 3 pre-season games (games 2, 3 and 5).

In 6 games, Fontaine had 0 hits, was plus-1, had 2 assists, 12 shots, 2 blocked shots, 4 take aways, 2 give aways and over 83 minutes of ice time.

In 4 games, Zucker had 3 hits, was plus-2, had 1 assist, 3 shots, 3 blocked shots, 1 take away and over 48 minutes of ice time.

In 3 games, Konopka had 5 hits, was even in plus/minus, had no assists, no shots, 1 blocked shot, 1 give away, over 31 minutes of ice time and was 62.333333% on face-offs.

None of the 3 scored in any of the games they played in.

Fontaine definitely deserves his spot. But does Zucker deserve to be waived and to be made to feel like he didn’t show up this pre-season? If anyone didn’t show up, it was Konopka, of the 3. Sure Konopka will go out and fight, but big deal. From what I’ve seen, he hasn’t really fared that well. And, now that we have Matt Cooke, do we really need Konopka? What about when Rupp returns? Do we really need both of these “tough guys”? Sure Konopka’s good in the face-off circle. But the Wild now have David Steckel who is as good, if not better, when they need a face-off specialist to be called up.

Whether I look at it subjectively, as a fan, or objectively, as a media-type, I still don’t see how Zucker doesn’t make the Minnesota Wild out of the shoot. Hopefully, I’m proven wrong and keeping Konopka was exactly the right thing to do. However, you can bet your bottom dollar that I will be keeping an eye on both Fontaine and Konopka as the season progresses. In the end, I think Fontaine and Konopka are guys that go out, do their jobs and don’t hurt you. But they also don’t really help you. For me, Zucker is a guy that actually helps you. A guy that is blazing fast, can shoot and score and has proven that, albeit sporadically so far, at the NHL level. With Zucker being a part of the future for the Wild and Konopka/Rupp on their last legs with this team, I just don’t see how it makes sense to play Zucker at the AHL level. Hopefully, Fletcher can move a player or two to make room for Zucker who, if given a fair shot in a healthy body, will produce and turn into a fan favorite. Look no further than the outcry of fans on Twitter when he was demoted to the AHL today. Zucker is part of the future of the Minnesota Wild and the future is now, not next year.

Thoughts?

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