In an interview with VG in Norway, Mats Zuccarello said that the way the Rangers handling Henrik Lundqvist is disrespectful and “it is absolutely haunting that he is treated that way.”
He notes that while Lundqvist is getting older and Igor Shesterkin is playing well, the Rangers could have “let” Lundqvist play the games when Shesterkin doesn’t. (VG)
Alex Georgiev, who played most of the games Shesterkin didn’t, was Zuccarello’s teammate in 2017-18 and 2018-19.
Ad
Zuccarello adds that if the Rangers had won the Stanley Cup in 2014 then Lundqvist would have been “the greatest legend in Rangers history” and that “now you see that being nice to a club, or taking less pay because you are loyal, turns out to be just nonsense.” (VG)
Zuccarello said that he intended to end his career with the Rangers and that “everything was going to be fine and great but then the management decides, and then you are not worth the shit.” (VG)
He added that he signed in Minnesota not because of his salary but because of the five-year contract as well the fact that they only come to Madison Square Garden once a season. (VG)
Earlier this week, David Quinn spoke about the three-goalie situation and said “all three guys have handled it well and obviously, Hank having the career he is having and had and his age, the situation we uncomfortable for everyone but moreso him. He couldn’t have handled it better. He understood what we going on. Igor went down to Hartford and he was the best goalie in the AHL, he bided his time, stayed down there until January and finally we had to call him up. When we had all three of them here in the first month, everyone got an opportunity and we just felt that Igor kind of separated himself in that stretch and we turned to him to get most of the starts. The numbers spoke for themselves, everyone understood it, there was no hidden agenda, communication with Hank, Igor and Georgiev. I can’t google ‘how to handle three goalies, one of them a Hall of Famer’ at the NHL level. There is no right or wrong answer and as I’ve said, I’m sure I made mistakes along the way handling the situation, I certainly didn’t do it intentionally but I have to give all these guys a ton of credit, they handled it like pros and made the situation manageable.”