New York Rangers: Mika Zibanejad and the dangers of training camp

The game of hockey is a physical and dangerous game by its nature. The New York Rangers suffered a scare during the first live day of training camp as center Mika Zibanejad had to leave with an injury.

There are a few givens when it comes to the New York Rangers. The team will play its home games on 33rd street between seventh and eighth avenues, Henrik Lundqvist will be in between the pipes and inevitably someone is going to get injured. It’s simply a byproduct of the game of hockey, bumps and nicks happen. So do concussions, torn tendons and broken bones.

In the case of 24-year-old Mika Zibanejad, it was a broken fibula and a series of concussions. In the Swede’s two seasons with the Rangers he has suffered two serious long term injuries. During the 2016-2017 season Zibanejad suffered a broken fibula in mid-November and missed 26 games. This injury took a while for him to shake off and his production in the second half of the season took a dip.

This past season he was concussed in a brutally chippy game against the Detroit Red Wings and forced the center out of ten games. Unlike a broken bone, a concussion does not have a linear recovery process. Every single person handles a concussion differently because every single concussion is different. In fact, doctors still do not fully understand concussions and new ground is broken quite often.

During a one-on one-drill during practice, Rangers defensive prospect Joey Keane hit Zibanejad in a way that forced the center to leave practice. Several hours later, Rangers’ coach David Quinn told reporters that Zibanejad got the wind knocked out of him and he had passed the concussion protocol.

Training camp and going for it

As the Rangers’ new coach, Quinn is coming into a room that suffered under an out of touch head coach last season. It was fairly obvious that the players checked out down the stretch last season following the departure of key veterans at the trade deadline.

Part of Quinn’s approach to getting more out of the team is an emphasis on engaged and intense play. On the team’s training camp t-shirt, the slogan “fast, physical, relentless.” That is a far cry from the soft style that the team exhibited down the stretch last season. For the final 20 games of the season, the Rangers were a sleepwalking group that failed to show any pride. They simply rolled over and died.

Not only is Quinn talking the talk, he’s having the team walk the walk.

This level of physical play during practice is a good sign of what Quinn expects out of his team come the regular season. This is a tall ask considering it is only the first day of on ice practice. The idea being that if the Rangers are practicing hard, they will play hard in the regular season.

Of course, this comes with its own risks. Practicing at this intense of a level will wear thin on a team overtime. At the professional level, using physical drills as a form of building culture will irritate veteran players.

Even though it is a different sport, the Detroit Lions new head coach, Matt Patricia, has already begin to alienate his team through the use of running as a punishment.

There is a subtle difference in coaching college versus coaching professional players and it will be important for Quinn to figure out the difference. These physical one-on-one drills are a good way to establish a certain style of play, but if they’re still featured at practice come October, it is cause for concern.

This is the eternal struggle of preseason games and training camp in every sport. A team cannot loaf through the warmup period to avoid injury because they will not be ready for the regular season. However, they also cannot go full tilt and risk injury. It is a catch 22 for any coach with any team and especially for a newbie like Quinn.