"I'm a Shooter and a Goal Scorer": Zucker Looks to Play to His Strengths

During his time as a professional hockey player, Jason Zucker has earned a reputation for being open, honest and candid, especially when it comes to his play. And when assessing his performance last season, the winger didn't mince words.

"Last year was awful, to be honest," said Zucker, who finished with nine goals and 18 points in 38 contests while dealing with a longer-term lower-body injury that kept him out of the lineup for 18 games. "I didn't like my game at all. I thought there were some really good points and some really bad points. For me, it was a good summer for me to adjust my game and feel really good coming into this year."
Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan has confidence that the forward will rediscover the game he showed after Pittsburgh acquired him from Minnesota on Feb. 10, 2020, where Zucker piled up six goals and 12 points in 15 games heading into the pause. Sullivan believes that Zucker's return to form is just around the corner, as long as he has the right mindset.
"I think he just has to play to his strengths," Sullivan said. "One of the reasons why we acquired him was because he plays a straight-ahead game. He's strong on the puck, he's got good speed and can shoot the puck. I think that's the type of game that he needs to play more consistently.
"When he's at his best, he's going to the net, he's shooting the puck. He's a competitive guy and a proud guy who expects a lot of himself. I would expect that Zuck's going to have a good year for us. He's an important player."

Zucker pointed to his lack of shots as a big reason for his relative lack of production last season. He averaged 202 shots per season during the last three full NHL campaigns when he was in Minnesota. Last year, he only had 67 shots in 38 games, which translates to 144 over a full 82-game season.
"I don't think I shot the puck nearly as much as I had in years past," Zuycker said. "I'd be shocked if it was even 50% of my normal total shooting the puck. I don't know if it was passing the puck too much in general, or just trying to make plays in general. I've never been known to be a playmaker, I'm a shooter and a goal-scorer. So that was a big thing, and something I'm definitely going to focus on more for this year."
A turnaround is in order for Zucker, who is a proven goal scorer, having reached the 20-goal mark five times and collected a career-high 33 tallies in 2017-18. He hopes that a strong summer of work and spending time with his family can lead to more success on the ice.
"I did a lot of skating and I felt good [this summer]. It was a busy summer with the family, we got to go on a couple of trips, it was nice to get away from the rink and have that family time. It was a really good summer for me."
Zucker is one of the players the Penguins will be relying on to step up both on the ice from a production standpoint, and off the ice from a leadership perspective, as the Penguins will be without two of their star players in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to start the season.
"I think all of us, especially in the top six, need to make sure we're filling those voids," Zucker said. "We'll never be able to fill them completely, obviously. Those are two world-class players. But we've got to collectively come together and all pick up a little bit more and definitely chip in more."