Zuccarello almost set for return to Stars
There’s nothing wrong with Mats Zuccarello’s legs, judging by how hard he was working at the morning skate.
The Stars’ prize trade acquisition is almost ready to return from a broken arm he suffered a month ago in his first game with Dallas.
There’s bad luck, then there’s horrible luck.
“We had made all of our moves (before the Feb. 25 trade deadline) and we’re sitting with the whole staff in Dallas, thinking we’re going to enjoy the game in Chicago (on TV),” said Stars GM Jim Nill. “He comes out, gets a goal and an assist in the first game with us, looks like a million dollars, fitting in like a glove, then all of a sudden — Boom!
“Then we sit down and say, ‘Do we have to make another deal?’ ... You can’t keep trading draft picks,” said Nill.
“We talked to the doctor right away and he said he could be back in four or five weeks, so we didn’t have to try and make another deal,” Nill said.
Zuccarello broke his right arm when he blocked a shot by Chicago defenceman Connor Murphy. He had surgery on Feb. 26 and he’ll see doctors after Thursday’s game to see how it looks.
The 31-year-old Zuccarello might play in Vancouver on Saturday.
FUNNY GUY
Oilers coach Ken Hitchcock had Dallas TV colour man Daryl Reaugh on his junior team in Kamloops in the 1980s. When asked what kind of goalie Reaugh was, Hitchcock paused.
“He was funny,” Hitchcock said. “When I got introduced (as Kamloops coach), Razor (Reaugh) said ‘I don’t know if he can coach, but I know we’re going to eat well.’ ”
Reaugh, who backed up Grant Fuhr for a year in Edmonton, used to emcee the Oilers’ Christmas parties.
Reaugh also did an excellent job as TV play-by-play man for the Stars when the late Dave Strader was battling cancer.