Wild winger Jason Zucker is aware his contract will expire soon, as restricted free agency looms this summer.
But the 26-year-old has kept his focus between the boards — unlike in the past, when his impending status change consumed his thoughts.
"I was worried about it more," he recalled. " 'I gotta do this. I gotta score five goals in the next 15 games to be on this pace.' It was too much, too much worrying about it and too much going on. And I think it was all myself. It wasn't anybody else putting pressure on me."
The shift in perspective has worked for Zucker.
By Game No. 53, he'd already matched his career-high goal output from last season at 22. And with the chance to approach 30 for the first time in his career, he's demonstrating the growth that no doubt merits a raise from the $2 million he's pocketing in the final season of his current two-year, $4 million deal.
"I'm really excited to be able to stay here for a long time," Zucker said. "I hope when contract time comes we'll figure that out and talk about it. In the meantime, we're just worried about winning games and playing hockey, which is really nice."
Defenseman Matt Dumba is another soon-to-be restricted free agent. General Manager Chuck Fletcher said he feels the team will have the ability to re-sign both, with the plan to ignite talks once the season concludes.
"They're both having nice seasons," Fletcher said. "How we finish team performance is going to have a lot to do with what their value is, too. It makes sense if you're a good player on a team that has a lot of success, that's more valuable than a good player on a team that doesn't have success. I think at this point, it makes sense to just wait for everybody, not to complicate the matter, just let them focus on doing what they do best and that's helping our team win."