Trade market is taking shape for Wild winger Jason Zucker
Jason Zucker is almost surely going to be traded in the next few weeks, and a legit market for him seems to be taking shape.
Leading into the trade deadline, Minnesota Wild general manager Paul Fenton made an effort to take apart the roster. Nino Neiderreiter, Charlie Coyle and Mikael Granlund were dealt, and if not for it falling apart at the last minute Jason Zucker would’ve been sent to the Calgary Flames right at the trade deadline.
After setting career highs with 33 goals and 31 assists in 2017-18, Zucker fell to 21 goals and 21 assists this past season. He has posted more than 20 goals in three straight seasons, with 30 power play points over the last two seasons (14 goals, 16 assists). At 27 years old and with four years left on his contract ($5.5 million cap hit each year), Zucker should be sought after on the trade market.
A few days ago, Mike Halford of TSN 1040 reported the Vancouver Canucks have expressed interest in Zucker with multiple trade offers made. That is added to talks of a Phil Kessel deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins a few weeks ago, with Zucker going the other way, but Kessel nixed the deal via his no-trade clause.
Now, according to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic on TSN’s Insider Trading segment, the Buffalo Sabres are “kicking the tires” on Zucker.
If the Wild are motivated to move Zucker, and by all indications they are, July 1 stands as a key deadline. That’s when his limited no-trade clause kicks in for the first time, and where he will submit a 10 team no-trade list. A deal after that is definitely possible, and still very likely, but it will become a good bit harder with 10 teams taken off the table at Zucker’s discretion.
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Zucker is one of the last remaining symbols of the underachieving, inconsistent Wild roster assembled by previous general manager Chuck Fletcher. Fenton has taken steps to unload the pieces of that roster that he can, with mixed initial results. But multiple teams starting to get involved on Zucker lines up the potential for a good return in a deal.