ST PAUL, Minn. — The Wild have signed free agent right wing Mats Zuccarello to a five-year, $30 million contract, seeking more consistent production from their top two lines after their streak of six straight trips to the playoffs was snapped this spring.
Zuccarello has 355 points in 511 NHL regular season games, including a combined 12 goals and 28 assists in 48 games for the New York Rangers and the Dallas Stars while averaging a career-high 19:51 of ice time per game in 2018-19. The 31-year-old also has 42 points in 73 career playoff games.
Zuccarello, a 5-foot-8, 184-pound Finn, played the first eight-plus seasons of his career with the Rangers. He signed with them as a 23-year-old free agent in 2010 and tallied 113 goals and 239 assists in 509 games, until he was traded in February two days before the deadline as the Stars stocked up for the postseason.
The team also bolstered their offensive scoring depth by adding right wing Ryan Hartman.
The 6-foot, 181-pound native of Hilton Head Island, S.C., set career highs in games played, PIM and blocked shots (39), and ranked T-2nd in games played in the NHL in 2018-19.
The 24-year-old has played in 245 career NHL games during parts of five seasons (2014-19) with the Chicago Blackhawks, Nashville Predators and Philadelphia Flyers.
The Wild scored just 210 goals in 2018-19, the fifth-fewest in the league.