New York Rangers’ Zibanejad is top-line center of the future

Since the New York Rangers traded Derek Stepan to the Arizona Coyotes in 2017, Mika Zibanejad has been their undisputed top center. But is Zibanejad truly effective enough to be considered a #1 center?

When the New York Rangers pulled the trigger on a trade just before the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, there were plenty of skeptics. The Rangers sent Derek Stepan—their top center for the past five seasons—and backup goalie Antti Raanta to Arizona for defensive prospect Anthony DeAngelo and the 7th overall pick in the draft.

The move signaled utter confidence by the Rangers’ front office in Mika Zibanejad’s ability to take the next step in his development.

At face-value, it would appear their confidence was unfounded. The Rangers suffered a catastrophic 2017-18 season, missed the playoffs for the first time in almost a decade, publicly announced a rebuild, and fired their head coach.

Zibanejad, meanwhile, suffered another lengthy injury (concussion) and again fell short of establishing a new career-high in points.

But as with many things in hockey, that doesn’t tell the whole story.

Zibanejad’s two-way play

A common concern when it comes to evaluating the play of any center is his effectiveness at both ends of the rink. When it comes to Zibanejad, he’s obviously no Patrice Bergeron or Mikko Koivu or Sean Couturier.

That said, Zibanejad gets the job done in his own zone. Despite playing on a defensively inept team in a system that magnifies shots against, Zibanejad maintained a 5 on 5 shot attempts percentage of over 51%, according to Corsica Hockey. Zibanejad also led all Rangers skaters with a 7.19% Corsi For (relative to his teammates).

Again using Corsica’s stats, Zibanejad had a 53.93% expected goals for while at 5 on 5, indicating that the Rangers were more effective both offensively and defensively. That number, by the way, ranks 90th among all skaters; that ranking rises to 59th among all forwards, and within the top 30 among centers.

Any concerns over Zibanejad’s defensive ability are probably overblown, especially once the actual results are taken into account.

A top-line scorer

While Zibanejad’s injury both hurt the New York Rangers and prevented him from setting new marks in points, he did excel in one area this season: goals scored.

Zibanejad’s 27 goals represented a career-high for the Swedish center, and in fact were the most scored by a Rangers center in years. Perhaps the most interesting part of that number, though, is that more than half of them came on the power play.

With 14 goals on the man advantage, Zibanejad ranked sixth in the entire NHL. Only Patrik Laine (20), Alexander Ovechkin (17), Patric Hornqvist, Ryan O’Reilly, and Steven Stamkos (15) scored more. Of those players, only Hornqvist (70) played in fewer games than Zibanejad’s 72.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=448RSb_IzAo&t=1m9s

Zibanejad’s shooting ability off the left circle brings an entirely new element to the Rangers’ power play, and early signs indicated that he had fantastic chemistry with Kevin Shattenkirk patrolling the point.

While Zibanejad’s 5 on 5 scoring could use a boost, his power play efficiency is elite. With some better injury luck and more consistent linemates, there is little doubt that Zibanejad is capable of breaking out for 60 or more points.

When taken in the grand scheme of centers in the NHL, Zibanejad is a top performer. His two-way game ranks among the top-30 and his power play production is elite. At just 25 years old, Zibanejad still has room to improve, but for now, the Rangers have a sure-fire number one center.