Mika’s back against Carolina (we hope)

The New York Rangers have missed their best player for 13 games.  Mika Zibanejad has been cleared and will play against Carolina on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, still basking in the glow of two straight come-from-behind wins,  the New York Rangers got some great news.  Their best player and on-ice leader, Mika Zibanejad, has been cleared to play on Wednesday.

Zibanejad has missed 13 games due to what the team called a neck injury, but appeared to be a concussion.   Okay, maybe he had a neck injury and a concussion.  The injury, sustained when hit by a dangerous reverse check from Patrice Bergeron, stopped Zibanejad who was off to a great start.

He had scored four goals and added seven assists for 11 points in nine games. While his stats were great, the team was struggling when he went down, with a record of 3-5-1.  A lot of the blame for their lousy start could be placed on their bizarre October schedule and with a more regular slate of games, the team rallied in his absence and has gone 8-4-1 without him.

The Rangers Twitter account was excited.

He was missed, most particularly on the the penalty kill.  When Zibanejad was in the lineup they had killed penalties at an 81% success rate.  With him out, the PK has limped along at 69%.  While the power play success percentage actually increased from 18% to 23%, Zibanejad’s return could be a shot int he arm for a power play unit that has scored only three times the last 24 times with the man advantage .

It’s tough to tell how much he means to his teammates, but Brendan Lemieux weighed in.  “He’s out best player so you can’t really put a finger on how important he is to our group…he’s incredible, he’s a leader, he’s a huge piece of our team…it’s been awesome that we were able to do as well we have been since he’s been out…we’re really excited  to have him back, he’s a helluva player.”

With Zibanejad back in the lineup, the question is where will be play? If David Quinn puts him with Kreider and Buchnevich, it probably means that his top pairing of Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome will remain intact and they could be reunited with Jesper Fast. Filip  Chytil will move down to the third line with Brendan Lemieux and Kaapo Kakko.

Greg McKegg is still out with an lower body injury so the team will move Howden to center the fourth line of Brendan Smith and Micheal Haley/Boo Nieves.

No matter what, Zibanejad’s return strengthens the lineup and creates a lot more depth.  It will be good to have him back. The Carolina Hurricanes have continued their fine play from last season and Henrik Lundqvist may have to stand on his head again for the Rangers to win.