Jason Zucker wants to remain with the Penguins
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By just about any measure, Jason Zucker’s 2022-23 season was a rousing success.
In fact, he might have been one of the brightest individual triumphs for the Pittsburgh Penguins this past season.
First, he was healthy for the most part. That’s a luxury he hasn’t been able to boast of for a few years. The 78 games he played were his most since he appeared in 81 with the Minnesota Wild in 2018-19.
Being able-bodied allowed Zucker, typically deployed on the second line, to score 27 goals and 48 points, each the second-best figures of his 12-year career.
And beyond that, he was often a pace-setter for the Penguins through his physical play. His 195 hits led the Penguins, who, as a team, led the NHL with 2,308 hits.
There was quite a bit to like about Zucker’s season.
With one considerable exception.
“I measure (my season) based on how the team did,” Zucker said during the team’s exit interviews in Cranberry on April 15. “And we’re not in the playoffs. So it’s a disappointing season. Just overall, just disappointing. Obviously, we wish we were still playing right now.
“We didn’t live up to our expectations. It’s a disappointment. I love the group that we have. We have an awesome team, an unbelievable group. It’s very disappointing not being in the playoffs right now. We’ve got nobody to blame but ourselves. We didn’t find consistency, and it ultimately hurt us.”
It remains to be seen if Zucker will still be part of the Penguins’ “us.” He is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent July 1, and, given how prolific his season was, the 31-year-old presumably will be in line to fetch a new contract with a higher salary cap hit than the $5.5 million he commanded the last five seasons.
Zucker’s first preference would be for his next contract to be with the Penguins.
“I’ve got a ton of faith in this group,” Zucker said. “I love our group. We’ve shown throughout this season that we can still play some great hockey. The big three (forwards Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and defenseman Kris Letang), obviously, have shown that they’ve still got plenty of hockey left. This is a place that I want to be. I said that after the (season finale), and I’ll reiterate it. I want to be back. But as of now, it’s, obviously, out of my control. We’ll figure it out.”
Who will figure it out from the Penguins’ side of the equation remains to be seen. General manager Ron Hextall and president of hockey operations Brian Burke were fired April 14, and upper management is still in the embryonic stages of considering candidates to lead the hockey operations department.
Those changes weigh on Zucker and his teammates.
“It ultimately comes down to the players that are on the ice,” Zucker said. “Everyone has a piece of this. We all have to take some ownership over what happened. It’s our fault that they’re not back. I feel badly for those guys. They’ve treated me well. I wish them nothing but the best moving forward. They’re all great humans. It, obviously, didn’t work out here, but that falls on the players. We definitely feel that accountability.”
Zucker isn’t the team’s only pending unrestricted free agent. The futures of goaltender Tristan Jarry, defenseman Brian Dumoulin and others must be sorted out by whomever is the Penguins’ next front-office czar.
But the organization’s immediate future still revolves around Crosby, Malkin and Letang. That’s a major reason Zucker would like to remain.
“Everyone talks about how old of a team we are and those three being ‘too old,’ ” Zucker said. “But I think they’ve put all those arguments to rest pretty quick. They have a lot of hockey left.”