Zuccarello responds after being booed off the ice at home.
The Minnesota Wild were booed off the ice by their own fans on Saturday night after an ugly loss.
The season is rapidly slipping away from the Minnesota Wild.
A mid-season coaching change did provide the team with a temporary boost but it would appear as though that boost has run its course with the Wild once again plummeting precipitously down the standings. The Wild have lost 8 of their last 9 games, with their lone win over that stretch coming against the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets, and on Saturday night it all came crashing down on home ice.
The Wild suffered one of their ugliest losses of the season as they were blown out at home by the Arizona Coyotes, the Coyotes eventually taking an embarrassing 6-0 win over the Wild. The loss itself would have been bad enough, but the Wild players were showered with a loud chorus of boos from their own fans as they shuffled off the ice after their lackluster effort on the night.
Following the game a dejected Mats Zuccarello spoke to reporters and was asked specifically about the reaction he and his teammates had received from their hometown fans. Rather than lash out in frustration, Zuccarello instead chose to empathize with the fans and even argued that they deserve better than the product the Wild are putting on the ice this season.
"Our home fans, they're here every time supporting us," said Zuccarello. "They deserve more than that. We all know it."
It is no doubt an extremely frustrating situation for a proud player like Zuccarello to find himself in, and you have to remember that the Wild players are at a significant disadvantage every single night with over $14.7 million of the organization's cap space committed to Ryan Suter and Zach Parise, two players who were bought out of their contracts all the way back in 2021.
Those were strong words from Zuccarello, but they will ring hollow to a significant portion of the fan base if the Wild fail to turn things around on the ice.
