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New York Rangers Stock Market: Scoring surges and offensive droughts

By Jennifer Moglia

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 09: The New York Rangers salute the crowd after defeating the New Jersey Devils 4-2 at Madison Square Garden on March 9, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 09: The New York Rangers salute the crowd after defeating the New Jersey Devils 4-2 at Madison Square Garden on March 9, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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ST. PAUL, MN – MARCH 16: Mika Zibanejad #93 of the New York Rangers passes the puck in the second period against the Minnesota Wild on March 16, 2019 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Minnesota Wild defeated the New York Rangers 5-2. (Photo by David Berding/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
ST. PAUL, MN – MARCH 16: Mika Zibanejad #93 of the New York Rangers passes the puck in the second period against the Minnesota Wild on March 16, 2019 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Minnesota Wild defeated the New York Rangers 5-2. (Photo by David Berding/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

Up: Mika Zibanejad

Mika Zibanejad’s amazing season has continued, regardless of the New York Rangers’ offensive woes. In his last five games, he has four points (one goal and three assists).

Looking at his numbers for the season, he now has 67 points in 72 games, made up of 28 goals and 39 assists. This means that he has officially broken his personal record for goals, since he scored 27 last year, his previous career high.

He also passed his previous best in assists when he had 30 in 2015-2016 with the Ottawa Senators. Zibanejad’s point total is a new career high as well, already 16 points more than the previous mark of 51 he achieved in his last season as a Senator.

He now leads the Rangers in points, 18 points ahead of Chris Kreider who currently holds second place. The forward is also first in assists, with 16 more than Kreider, and first in goals, with two more than Kreider as well.

He’s also the first Ranger to break 60 points since Mats Zuccarello during the 2015-2016 season. In fact, no Ranger has scored 67 points or higher since Rick Nash had 69 points during the 2014-2015 campaign.  Three more points and he will have the best scoring season by a Ranger since Marian Gaborik’s 76 points in 2011-12.

Mika Zibanejad has been a huge asset for this team this year, proving himself more and more every single night. Plus, at just 25 years old (26 just after this season ends) and earning just over five million dollars until the end of the 2021-2022 season, his value is extremely high and has been for this entire season.

It is crucial that the New York Rangers hold onto him for a long time, especially throughout this rebuilding process. He’s still relatively young and probably hasn’t hit his prime yet, he can serve as a sense of offensive consistency and a stable leader, and his contract definitely isn’t an issue.

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