Mats Zuccarello 'sad, sorry' about the Derick Brassard trade

He lost his best friend.

Verdens Gang, a Norwegian tabloid paper, had the chance to catch up with Mats Zuccarello following a charitable Norwegian celebrity soccer match. The good news? He was one of the best players on the field.

The bad news? He was also asked about the Derick Brassard trade - and his answers are heartbreaking.

Sure, trades are part of the business of hockey. That's something we all know, and something the players themselves have to get accustomed to pretty quickly. But this is the second year in a row Zuccarello has lost a close friend on his team.

Worse yet? He said in addition to finding chemistry together on the ice and being two of the Rangers' top players, Zuccarello and Brassard hanged out together almost every day. That includes off the ice, as well; and while it's easy to maintain a long-distance frendship in this day and age, it's much harder to hang out on a daily basis when you're in completely different cities.

So just... aw. Poor Zucc.

The good thing about all of this? Zuccarello knows Mika Zibanejad is a good player - so hopefully, things will still turn out for the best.