2013 Hockey Arbitration Competition of Canada Mats Zuccarello v New York Rangers Made in Representation of Mats Zuccarello Submission on Behalf of Team 30 I. Introduction This brief will examine the past performance of Mats Zuccarello, also referred to as “Mr. Zuccarello” or “the player”, of the New York Rangers, also referred to as “the team” or the “Rangers”, for the purposes of salary arbitration. Mr. Zuccarello signed a 2 year entry level contract in 2010, his age on September 15th of that year having been 23. Mr. Zuccarello is currently a Group II restricted free agent, and having completed his required 2 years of professional experience is eligible for salary arbitration as per Article 12 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (“CBA”) of the NHL. II. Overall Performance of the Player A) Career Performance Table 1. Mats Zuccarello Career Statistics12 YEAR LEAGUE GP G A P P/GP P/M PIM PPG SHG GWG S HITS/GP BkS/GP GvA/GP TkA/GP TOI 2008-2009 SEL 35 12 28 40 1.14 10 38 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 2009-2010 SEL 55 23 41 64 1.16 6 62 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 2010-2011 AHL 36 13 16 29 0.81 2 16 3 0 2 107 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A NHL 42 6 17 23 0.55 3 4 0 0 2 74 1.33 0.45 0.14 0.38 14.17 2011-2012 AHL 37 12 24 36 0.97 5 22 5 0 1 92 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A NHL 10 2 1 3 0.30 0 6 1 0 1 10 0.80 0.30 0.20 0.20 10.03 2012-2013 KHL 44 11 17 28 0.64 5 30 3 0 1 96 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A NHL 15 3 5 8 0.53 10 8 0 0 0 27 1.80 1.00 0.33 0.40 16.42 NHL CAREER 67 11 23 34 0.51 13 18 1 0 3 111 1.36 0.55 0.19 0.36 14.06 Throughout Mr. Zuccarello’s career, regardless of the league which he plays in, he has been a consistent point producing offensive player. Mr. Zuccarello began his professional hockey career in the Swedish Elite League (“SEL”), at the age of 21 to great success. He was over a point per game player in both seasons that he played, and in his second year he led the league in scoring.3 After that season, Mr. Zuccarello made the trip to North America and joined the Rangers organization. His offensive success continued even with the transition to North American 1 http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8475692#&navid=nhl-search 2 http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8475692&season=20122013&view=log 3 http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/top_league.php?lid=sel1998&sid=2010&leaguenm=SEL hockey, possessing a 0.51 point per game average during the games he has played at the NHL level and a 0.89 point per game average at the AHL level. Mr. Zuccarello has been equally effective on the defensive side of things. Despite having played 5 years of professional hockey in 3 different leagues, he has yet to be a minus player. In his time in the NHL, he has been a solid hitter who has had a microscopic number of giveaways, averaging only 0.19 per game. Being an offensive player, Mr. Zuccarello has often been beginning a high proportion of his shifts in the offensive zone, with an offensive start rate of 67.1, 52.6 and 64.2 in his 3 NHL seasons.4 Despite his generally offensive usage he has been exceptional defensively, consistently controlling possession of the puck (Corsi Relative of 17.8, 11.5 and 21.7 during his three NHL seasons)5 despite playing against a generally high level of competition in terms of the players he has been on the ice against (Corsi Relative Quality of Competition of 0.415, -0.680 and 1.073).6 B) 2012 – 2013 Regular Season Performance Mr. Zuccarello’s platform season saw him produce typically strong offensive numbers. The player took advantage of his time in Russia, scoring 28 points in 44 games for a 0.64 point per game average. This stellar offensive play continued upon his return to the Rangers, where he picked up 8 points in only 15 games played, for a 0.53 point per game average. Further, 4 out of the 5 assists the player recorded were primary assists, indicating a closer nexus with the scoring play.7 On the defensive side of things Mr. Zuccarello showed that he is an effective defensive player, logging career highs in hits per game, blocked shots per game and takeaways per game and registering an impressive plus 10 rating in only 15 games. 4http://www.behindthenet.ca/nhl_statistics.php?c=0+1+3+5+4+6+7+8+13+14+29+30+32+33+34+45+46+63+67&d s=1&f3=MATSZUCCARELLO&f1=2012_s+2012_p+2011_s+2010_s+2010_p 5 Ibid 6 Ibid 7 http://www.extraskater.com/player/866/mats-zuccarello III. Number of Games Played and Injury History Mr. Zuccarello has spent his entire NHL career with the New York Rangers accumulating 67 NHL games. He was signed by the Rangers in the summer of 2010 after being heavily courted by other teams due to his success in the SEL and the Olympics.89 Since being signed, the player has accumulated experience not only in the NHL but also the AHL and KHL. In 2010 – 2011, his first season with the club, he did not sustain any major injuries and played a total of 78 professional games.10 The 2011 – 2012 was not as fortunate to Mr. Zuccarello injury-wise. He first missed almost two months due to an ankle injury while playing in the AHL.11 This injury limited him to 37 games in the AHL during this season.12 After healing from that injury and being called up by the Rangers, he fractured his left wrist after blocking a shot against the Buffalo Sabres on March 23rd, 2012 and this injury ended his season. This injury caused him to only play 10 games for the Rangers during this season.13 The 2012 – 2013 season saw Mr. Zuccarello play the season in the KHL before signing with the Rangers after his Russian club’s elimination from the playoffs.14 He suffered no major injuries during this season.15 IV. Length of Service The Rangers signed Mr. Zuccarello in 2008 as an undrafted free agent. 16 Despite the fact that Mr. Zuccarello signed an entry level deal, he was far from a rookie in the typical sense. At this 8 http://capgeek.com/player/1777 9 http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=318309 10 http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/teams/players/bio/?id=7214 11 http://articles.courant.com/2012-01-25/sports/hc-mats-zuccarello-close-to-returning-20120125_1_mats- zuccarello-whale-coach-ken-gernander 12 http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/teams/players/bio/?id=7214 13 Ibid. 14 http://snyrangersblog.com/2013-14/2013-14-players/mats-zuccarello/news-rangers-officially-sign-mats- zuccarello/ 15 Ibid. 16 http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=318309 point in time, the player had already accumulated two professional seasons in Sweden’s highest league. After joining the Rangers Mr. Zuccarello completed 2 years of professional experience by the definitions of Article 12 of the NHL collective bargaining agreement. After the 2011 – 2012 season, the player took advantage of the fact that he was without a contract and signed with a KHL team, which was well within his rights to do. Mr. Zuccarello then completed the year with his KHL team before rejoining the Rangers for the stretch drive and playoffs, participating in enough games to accrue another year of professional experience. V. Overall Contribution to the Club Mr. Zuccarello was a member of the 2012 – 2013 Rangers team that finished with a 26 – 18 -4 record and qualified for the playoffs for the third straight year.17 Mr. Zuccarello clearly had a positive effect on the team’s performance as the team, as they went 10 – 4 – 1 in the games that he played in, a winning percentage of 0.70, as opposed to a record of 16 – 14 – 3in the games which he did not play, a winning percentage of 0.53.18 The team also on average scored more goals, allowed fewer goals and had a higher winning percentage during the games which Mr. Zuccarello was in the lineup as compared to those which he was not. 19 It is clear that the Rangers were a better team when Mr. Zuccarello was in the lineup. VI. Special Qualities of Leadership or Public Appeal Mr. Zuccarello brings a unique type of public appeal to his teams, having not followed a traditional route to the NHL. Mr. Zuccarello brings with him a history of international experience and appeal, having had success playing in Norway, Sweden and Russia professionally. His success in Sweden was further recognized when he was named most valuable player in the SEL in the 2009 – 2010 season by winning the Guldhjälmen, which is a higher honour as it is voted 17 http://www.nhl.com/ice/standings.htm?season=20122013&type=con#&navid=nav-stn-conf 18 http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8475692&season=20122013&view=log 19 Ibid.