It was the final day of Mats Zuccarello’s Ranger career, last Feb. 23 when the Norwegian had been held out of the lineup for the Garden match against the Devils in order to protect against an injury two days before the trade deadline.
Zuccarello poked his head inside the room following the Blueshirts’ 5-2 victory and wordlessly clasped hands with Chris Kreider before leaning in on his longtime teammate for a few parting words just hours before No. 36 was indeed dealt to Dallas.
What I wondered on Monday, when Zuccarello made his emotional return to Broadway with the Wild team with which he signed a five-year free-agent contract over the summer, was whether Kreider would be in the same spot next year.