One of the biggest questions entering this season for the New York Rangers was could Mika Zibanejad bounce back after having a drop in production in the regular season and an even worse lack of production in the playoffs. So far, the answer has sadly been no, as he has once again struggled out of the gate. If the Rangers want to win a Stanley Cup this season, they are going to need Zibanejad to find his game and quickly because, with the way he has been playing right now, he is more of a liability than an asset to this team.
Has Not Looked the Same Since the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs
The 2022-23 regular season was a great offensive season for Zibanejad, as he recorded the second-highest goal-scoring season of his career with 39 and had the most points in a season of his career with 91 in 82 games played. He looked like the dominant offensive threat that he had been for the years leading up to that season and he was poised to have a big impact for the Rangers in their playoff run. However, this did not happen and he was one of, if not the worst player for the team in their series against the New Jersey Devils.
He scored just one goal and four points in the seven-game loss to the Devils and this series was where the struggles for Zibanejad truly began. He just wasn’t able to produce like he had in the past and he was getting shut down at every turn. No matter how good he was in the defensive zone and on the penalty kill, the Rangers are paying him to score goals and he just was not able to at all during that series. It truly was shocking to see and many thought that it was just a one-off and that he would come back and be like he was before, but he has yet to revert back to his former self.
Continued Regression Last Season
Last season saw a big drop in production for Zibanejad, as he went from 39 goals and 91 points to just 26 goals and 75 points. The biggest concern was his lack of scoring at even strength. Of his 26 goals, only 12 were at even strength and he even went into a massive slump where he went 30 games without a goal. That kind of streak is unacceptable for a player like Zibanejad and seeing him regress so much in just one season was very shocking to see. Once again, many thought that once the playoffs came around he would flip the switch and become a bigger offensive threat, but that did not happen.
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Zibanejad finished the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs with 16 points in 16 games. On paper, that looks good. However, only three of those points were goals and he went on a 10-game goalless drought to end the playoffs, which means that he did not score a single goal after Game 1 of the second round and was a non-factor offensively against the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Final. This is where many finally started to question whether or not Zibanejad is a true number-one center in the NHL and right now, he is showing that he isn’t that kind of player anymore.
Early Struggles This Season, So What Needs to Change?
Once again, Zibanejad has gotten off to a very slow and poor start for the Rangers this season. He has scored just two goals (one empty-net-goal) and seven points in nine games played. He is being outplayed by the Rangers’ entire third line that even his line is getting less time-on-ice per game than the line of Filip Chytil, Will Cuylle and Kaapo Kakko. Larry Brooks of the New York Post wrote that Zibanejad is not happy with getting less ice time this season. He said “You can feel it on the bench. I was averaging 20-plus minutes a few years ago, and I felt really good with that because you can find a better rhythm. Missing those extra two or three minutes, whatever it might be, you can try and create and feel like it’s going to come. But it is what it is.”
He has gone from averaging over 21 minutes to just 18 this season and although he isn’t happy getting fewer minutes, his play on the ice has not justified him getting those extra minutes when other players are playing better and contributing more to the team right now. If he wants to get those minutes back, he needs to become the player he used to be and become a more impactful player once again because right now, it just looks like he is coasting out there and disinterested at all times.
The Rangers are going to be a good team once again this season, but for a majority of the fans, it’s what happens in the playoffs that will determine how successful this season will be. If they want to be legit Stanley Cup contenders, they are going to need the Zibanejad of two seasons ago who was an offensive and dynamic player and not the player they have gotten for the past two seasons, who is basically a non-factor in every game. Something needs to change and it needs to change fast.
