Staple Has This Really Been a Down Season for Rangers' Mika Zibanejad?

[Phil]

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“It’s not like I’m sitting on 20 points,” Zibanejad told The Athletic. “If it was up to me I would be at 40 goals by now and I wouldn’t have a single power-play goal and I’d be plus-70. I’m serious. That’s what it would be if I could have it that way.

 

“But I guess the question for me right now is not talking so much about what it could have been this year. I can’t change that. So for me, it’s time to focus on trying to prepare for the playoffs and playing the right way.”

 

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Mika Zibanejad, 5v5 production

2023-24		7	72	7.69
2022-23		16	102	13.7
2021-22		12	112	11.54

 

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“He’s still the guy you lean on,” said Kreider, whose eyes lit up when given the chance to discuss his close friend’s season and perceived lack of success. “He’s incredibly responsible. Sometimes I give him a hard time because I tell him he’s cheating for defense, but he’s a coach’s dream. And every time on the power play he’s got a guy sitting in his shorts when he goes to line up a shot. We don’t give up a lot (at even strength) and he doesn’t get much space out there. There aren’t many guys who can get around the ice like he does.”

 

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But Zibanejad clearly knows what’s up. “There’s expectations obviously,” he said. “I haven’t scored as much five-on-five as in the past, but if you’re talking goals for, goals against, I don’t think it’s that bad … I honestly don’t know to respond to that sometimes. If I knew what the solution was, I’d do it. Obviously I want to be more productive. We’re also winning games, so …”

 

https://theathletic.com/5339726/2024/03/14/rangers-mika-zibanejad-stats/

[Valriera]

Yes, it has. The team has been successful offensively because of the bread line. Historically, that wasn’t the case. 

[Pete]

6 minutes ago, Valriera said:

Yes, it has. The team has been successful offensively because of the bread line. Historically, that wasn’t the case. 

I feel like this is a little reductive. It's kind of an "at face value" POV. And that's fine, but let's remember that his "down" year is still pretty much close to Point per game, and that's playing with a rotating set of right-wingers, and a left wing who he has to carry, which basically means he's playing four on five most of the time.

 

Bless Trocheck for his contributions but we all know that line goes as Panarin goes. Zib doesn't have that luxury of a lime mate who can lighten the load. 

 

And we've already seen that the underlying stats and shot data support this. Shayna Goldman broke it all down and she didn't just cover the what, she covered the why.

 

The deadline editions should help. He already looks much more like himself. They were just missing on a few passes in the Carolina game. It's just a matter of time before he and Roslovic start clicking. 

[BrooksBurner]

It’s been a down year for him and there’s no getting around that. He’s still a very good player who does a lot of things right

[Phil]

5 minutes ago, BrooksBurner said:

It’s been a down year for him and there’s no getting around that. He’s still a very good player who does a lot of things right

 

Yup. Both things are true. What Pete said just before about Trocheck is massive — without this performance, this would be more of an issue in all likelihood.

[Br4d]

The off-season goes back to last year also.  He was fine against the also-rans at 5v5 but really struggled to score against the playoff teams.

[Pete]

7 minutes ago, Br4d said:

The off-season goes back to last year also.  He was fine against the also-rans at 5v5 but really struggled to score against the playoff teams.

You keep saying this, but you're not digging into any of the context around the specific games and you're only looking at teams that wound up in the playoffs, not where they were in the standings when we played them, or if they were in the middle of a heater or not, so it's hard to take it as a serious data point.

[Br4d]

The teams that were good enough to actually make the playoffs are the teams in that category.

[Pete]

48 minutes ago, Br4d said:

The teams that were good enough to actually make the playoffs are the teams in that category.

Right, so no additional context. There's a lot of nuance around that. Could be that he was concentrating on his defensive responsibilities during those games. He didn't really have a right wing most of the season last year either. That plays into it, same as this year.

 

It's pretty reductive just to draw a line at playoff teams and not do a deeper dive. 

[Br4d]

Nuance is for politicians and player agents.

 

Most of us just go by what we see. 

[Pete]

4 minutes ago, Br4d said:

Nuance is for politicians and player agents.

 

Most of us just go by what we see. 

Again, that's reductive. What you see is that he hasn't scored. Your assumption is that he can't. The reality is you don't know why he hasn't. 

 

Other people have broken it down for you, but you still cling to your reductive viewpoint. 

[siddious]

All I’ll say is that you need Mika being an offensive force if this team wants to win a cup. 
 

Focusing in defense is a cop out. He’s the 1st line center it’s literally your role to do both. 
 

im just hoping he’s saving his best hockey for the playoffs. Nothing against Roslovic he’s looked fine but that line needed a driver. 

[Pete]

8 minutes ago, siddious said:

All I’ll say is that you need Mika being an offensive force if this team wants to win a cup. 
 

Focusing in defense is a cop out. He’s the 1st line center it’s literally your role to do both. 
 

im just hoping he’s saving his best hockey for the playoffs. Nothing against Roslovic he’s looked fine but that line needed a driver. 

I'm Not saying anything here is necessarily untrue, I'll just say the timing of it is odd considering the team unravel the moment he got hurt. 

[siddious]

1 minute ago, Pete said:

I'm Not saying anything here is necessarily untrue, I'll just say the timing of it is odd considering the team unravel the moment he got hurt. 

Like I said this team needs him 

[RichieNextel305]

I see both sides of the coin here. Because the simple fact of the matter is this, in my opinion. Has he had a down year? Offensively? Sure. All around? No. He’s crucial. He’s been good. Can he be better? Can he show up more in the goal scoring department? Sure.

 

I wouldn’t call his overall body of work even close to bad. He is a guy who plays in every situation for a team who’s special teams around the top of the league, and is the 1C on a team that many deem a Top-2 as far as Eastern Conference favorites go.

 

All of that being said, I will say this: in order for us to actually crack this code and win the Cup, as good as Mika has been away from the puck, I see no way we win it all unless he is a factor on the scoresheet. Our teams all around game is in a good place. But at some point, every team needs its superstar players to be superstars in the playoffs. Mika has shown he has what it takes to be a difference there. And he needs to do it again this year if we want this ride to end with a parade.