2019-20 New York Rangers report card: Mika Zibanejad

Can Zibanejad improve on one of the best offensive seasons in New York Rangers history?

Mika Zibanejad: Grade A-

Mika Zibanejad is everything that the New York Rangers have bargained for and more.  When the Rangers traded Derick Brassard and a seventh round pick for the young unproven Zibanejad back in 2016, the media and fans alike torched the Rangers front office for trading the beloved Brassard to the Ottawa Senators.

Rangers’ fans were even more upset when Brassard helped the Senators bounce the Blueshirts from the second round of the playoffs a year later.  But those wounds have healed, and Mika Zibanejad has solidified himself as a cornerstone of this New York Rangers franchise, and a big key to their future success.

His season

Mika Zibanejad was one of the top goal scorers in the league last season.  In fact, he was fifth in the league in goals scored, and 12th in the league in points.  Appearing in 57 games, Zibanejad racked up 75 points on 41 goals and 34 assists, with a plus/minus of +9.  His goals per game average of 0.72 was the best in the NHL, better than the four players who finished with more goals.

Perhaps the only reason the media didn’t talk about Zibanejad more during the season, was because he shared the ice with Hart Memorial Trophy finalist, Aretmi Panarin.

On October 5th,  in just the second game of the season, Zibanejad scored a hat trick against his former team, the Ottawa Senators.  Talk about coming out of the gate swinging, but that hat trick in Ottawa was just a primer for what was to come.  Zibanejad also had one assist in that game, giving him a total of four points scored on the night.

On February 25th, in a bitter battle against their crosstown rival New York Islanders,  Zibanejad scored one of the most beautiful snipes I have ever seen in a hockey game, to lift the Rangers passed the Islanders, 4-3 in overtime.

Zibanejad continued to flaunt his elite goal scoring prowess on March 5th, 2020.  In perhaps the most memorable game of the season for the New York Rangers, and an instant classic that will go down in Blueshirts’ history, Mika Zibanejad scored five goals against the Washington Capitals at Madison Square Garden, including the game winning goal in overtime, to beat the Capitals 6-5.

When the season was prematurely paused in March, he was the hottest goal scorer in the league with 17 goals in his last 13 games.

The Numbers

Games:  57
Goals: 41 (5th in the NHL)
Goals per game:  0.72 (1st in NHL)
Power play goals:  15 (3rd in the NHL)
Assists: 34
Points: 75 (12th in the NHL)
Points per game:  1.32  (7th in the NHL)
Plus/Minus:  +9
PIMs: 14
Blocked shots: 49
Hits:  51
Takeaways: 42
Giveaways: 43
ATOI: 21:38 (5th in the NHL among forwards)
Corsi–for: 51.74% (4th on the team among forwards)

Postseason: Zibanejad had a relatively quiet postseason, as did most of the Rangers team, since after all, they were swept by the Carolina Hurricanes.  Zibanejad scored two points on one goal and one assist in game one of the Stanley Cup qualifying round.  As for games two and three, Zibanejad failed to record a single point in either game, and was only able to muster up five shots total in the final two games before the Rangers were eliminated.  In game three, Mika had a plus/minus of -2.

Why the grade?

As I stated at the beginning of the second paragraph, Zibanejad solidified himself as one of the NHL’s true elite goal scorers.  Rangers’ fans are extremely excited for what’s to come from Zibanejad, because if he can continue to build on his stellar 2019-20 season, Zibanejad is going to be a serious problem for the rest of the league for years to come.

I gave him an A- instead of an A or an A+, because while the Rangers did benefit from being swept in the Stanley Cup qualifier, he was still a nonfactor in the series against Carolina.  At the time, we had no clue that the Rangers would then go on to win the NHL draft lottery and secure Alexis Lafrenière with the first overall pick, so the sweep doesn’t hurt as much.

But in the future, you cannot have one of your top players underperforming when it matters.  The chances of a playoff team winning the draft lottery ever again are slim to none, and this Rangers squad is a year or two away from competing for a Stanley Cup.  Mika Zibanejad has to be able to stand up as one of the leaders of this team and show the youngsters what it takes to be successful in the postseason.

Expectations

As you probably could have guessed, expectation for Mika Zibanejad are extremely high going into the season.  Zibanejad will be going into the 2020-21 season with perhaps the most pressure he’s ever experienced in his nine year career, and the only other guy on this team with more pressure on his shoulders is probably Artemi Panarin.

Compound that with the fact that his five year contract with the Rangers expires after the 2021-22 season, so he will be playing for an extension as early as the summer.

Most fans expect Zibanejad to be named the captain of the team at some point this season.  I think realistic expectations for Zibanejad is to go out and have a repeat season, I don’t think anyone would complain if he was top five in the league in goals again.

You simply cannot expect Zibanejad to have another five goal game at some point, that is one of the sports many rarities.  But Zibanejad will be the guy that the Rangers will look to go to for a game winning goal.