Player Discussion Mika Zibanejad

[Peltz]

OK.. Let's say he started ill.
It's been long enough now so in what world are you losing confidence from once you're fit enough to play?
Same line mates, coach, trash of a system?
What's there to lose confidence over?

I think the issue is he has a lower lung capacity and his conditioning just never caught up to where it was last season.

 

[romba]

I think it's 3 fold-
1-He missed TC due to Covid and he tends to take time to get his game going after time off, especially if Covid hit him hard
2-He took a couple of rocking hits during the first few weeks that likely bruised him a bit which he's playing through.
3-He's having a harder time adjusting to the NHL covid rules. No restaurants, socializing even when at home, Zibs seems like a guy that would have a hard time focusing only on hockey. It's possible he needs his outside hockey life to better enable his focus on his game. Everyone is wired difficulty. I'm sure he's figuring it out if it is an issue.

Either way, I think he's getting back to form which is great for everyone.

 

[NYRangers0723]

One thing that worries me about Mika is his durability. When the guy is 100 percent healthy and in shape he is a one if the betters Centers in the league. However if he is dealing with any type of injury even a minor one it really throws off his game. I’m also worried that he has had a couple concussions and one more bad one might be it

 

[Doctyl]

I didn’t say he’s still ill at all. I think he started ill and now he’s lacking confidence but getting it together

And people absolutely have had long term effects from covid that don’t mean they’re still current sick even if that were the case

This. No one really knows what Mika went/is going through. The outcomes of COVID aren’t as black and white as death or totally fine. There are a lot of potential long term cardiopulmonary effects that appear to even impact asymptomatic/mild cases. A lot of the long term sequelae are still being studied. Just because he isn’t actively contagious or symptomatic doesn’t mean he is 100% healthy and physically where he was when he put 5 goals in against the caps last year.

I think we all somewhat expected him to take a step back from last year. He likely wasn’t going to ever repeat that success and if he had a nasty bout of covid and is dealing with long term effects, he may never even be close to that level again. Selfishly I just hope he can get back to being a serviceable top 6 center and hopefully for him he is feeling healthy off the ice in his day to day life.

 

[NYR]

While I do in fact like Zbad, he has always gotten the benefit of the doubt throughout his career.
Time to put the big boy pants on now, kid.
Let's ditch the excuses.
Your team needs you..

 

[TheGortonConspiracy]

I posted this in the GDT but I am curious to see if people agree

I think Zibanejad has a left foot or leg injury that he's playing through. His skating has been off all season, I took this clip which highlights how he is favoring his left foot the whole rush down the ice, and eventually stops on his right foot (he's a left so his natural foot to stop on would be left), facing the opposite direction of the puck and goal. He then sort of limps off.

 

[Embryo]

Kreider just said in the post game interview regarding Zeb, that he's "sick of you guys" saying he hasn't been playing well and stood up for him and said he's allowing other guys to be open to score goals, etc... was a nice ballsy statement. It's at the very end.

 

[The New Russian Five]

Kreider just said in the post game interview regarding Zeb, that he's "sick of you guys" saying he hasn't been playing well and stood up for him and said he's allowing other guys to be open to score goals, etc... was a nice ballsy statement. It's at the very end.

You can tell Kreider sees that this is weighing on Mika. Good for Kreids stepping up to back him up like that.

 

[17futurecap]

I get it was the goal to make it 6-1, but Mika forced that turnover and then made a really pretty pass to Laf for the goal.

It's baby steps, but at least he has 4 points in 5 games. Hopefully the benching is the final low we see for him this season, and he just gets some luck improving the awful 3.5 shooting %.

 

[JimmyG89]

I get it was the goal to make it 6-1, but Mika forced that turnover and then made a really pretty pass to Laf for the goal.

It's baby steps, but at least he has 4 points in 5 games. Hopefully the benching is the final low we see for him this season, and he just gets some luck improving the awful 3.5 shooting %.

Definitely a step in the right direction. COVID definitely played a part in the early season struggles (even if he won't admit it), but you can see he is getting more and more in shape and able to do more on the ice.

He does need to beat a goalie one time. I think at that point, we'll see some more confidence come to his game. Even if it is a garbage goal, a rebound, anything with the goalie in the net.

 

[Hire Sather]

Kreider's comments on Zib are just ridiculous

I understand defending a teammate. But we're not going to pay Zibby 10 mill a year to 'open up space'

There is no 'narrative' against him. He's been terrible. Whatever the reason is.

 

[NYRangers0723]

Kreider's comments on Zib are just ridiculous

I understand defending a teammate. But we're not going to pay Zibby 10 mill a year to 'open up space'

There is no 'narrative' against him. He's been terrible. Whatever the reason is.

. How is it ridiculous? Like you said defending a teammate. Plus Kreider is closer to Mika and probably had a sense what the issue is. I’m guilty of criticizing Mika as well but I still believe in him. He also has been real good on the PK still he just hadn’t had much luck in scoring at its hurt his confidence. He is pressing

 

[Hire Sather]

. How is it ridiculous? Like you said defending a teammate. Plus Kreider is closer to Mika and probably had a sense what the issue is. I’m guilty of criticizing Mika as well but I still believe in him. He also has been real good on the PK still he just hadn’t had much luck in scoring at its hurt his confidence. He is pressing

I just don't like the 'narrative' remark.

It's like he's saying the critism is unfair or something.

Nobody is saying he's done, but the fact is his level of play has dropped considerably.

 

[SingnBluesOnBroadway]

Kreider's comments on Zib are just ridiculous

I understand defending a teammate. But we're not going to pay Zibby 10 mill a year to 'open up space'

There is no 'narrative' against him. He's been terrible. Whatever the reason is.

I don't see how the first line of your post has anything to do with the second.

 

[NYRangers0723]

I just don't like the 'narrative' remark.

It's like he's saying the critism is unfair or something.

Nobody is saying he's done, but the fact is his level of play has dropped considerably.

I dont think there was anything wrong with what he said

 

[Crease]

Kreider's comments on Zib are just ridiculous

I understand defending a teammate. But we're not going to pay Zibby 10 mill a year to 'open up space'

There is no 'narrative' against him. He's been terrible. Whatever the reason is.

Kreider’s job is to say something ridiculous there. He’s defending his teammate to the media. I’m sure behind closed doors they’re having a more candid discussion of Mika’s play.

 

[Whoot Whoot]

I think it's 3 fold-
1-He missed TC due to Covid and he tends to take time to get his game going after time off, especially if Covid hit him hard
2-He took a couple of rocking hits during the first few weeks that likely bruised him a bit which he's playing through.
3-He's having a harder time adjusting to the NHL covid rules. No restaurants, socializing even when at home, Zibs seems like a guy that would have a hard time focusing only on hockey. It's possible he needs his outside hockey life to better enable his focus on his game. Everyone is wired difficulty. I'm sure he's figuring it out if it is an issue.

Either way, I think he's getting back to form which is great for everyone.

1 - he scored like 5 points in 2 games last season before he was hurt

i mean if it is post-covid syndrome - he can't really be blamed for it imo

 

[JimmyG89]

lol remember this?

Might not necessarily feel like it, but this is the one year anniversary of that game. Last Rangers game I've been too and pretty much signified the last "normal" kind of night that I've had in a long time. I remember getting off the train going to MSG and using hand sanitizer after being down there thinking that it would help.

After the 4th goal, giving them the lead was just wild emotions. Had never seen anything like that. OV scoring literally right after was super deflating, but after the 5th goal it was just absolute insanity in the building, high fiving and hugging random people around me. Thinking back with what I know now, could have ended really poorly.

2nd game ever where I almost lost my voice, the other being G7 vs Philly in 2014. Also the 3rd time I literally jumped out of my seat (Stepan OT winner and MSL OT winner).

 

[Embryo]

Might not necessarily feel like it, but this is the one year anniversary of that game. Last Rangers game I've been too and pretty much signified the last "normal" kind of night that I've had in a long time. I remember getting off the train going to MSG and using hand sanitizer after being down there thinking that it would help.

After the 4th goal, giving them the lead was just wild emotions. Had never seen anything like that. OV scoring literally right after was super deflating, but after the 5th goal it was just absolute insanity in the building, high fiving and hugging random people around me. Thinking back with what I know now, could have ended really poorly.

2nd game ever where I almost lost my voice, the other being G7 vs Philly in 2014. Also the 3rd time I literally jumped out of my seat (Stepan OT winner and MSL OT winner).

I am happy we share the same memories of this game, I was home watching, but I was screaming just as loud lol. Best moment for me was the Marek Malik goal in the shootout, I was there, totally destroyed my vocal cords.

 

[HockeyBasedNYC]

I hate to put a majority of the Rangers failures on Mika, because I think he's a tremendous guy and player - but whatever is going on with him is absolutely killing this team.

The "blame" can be spread around the room. Leadership from other veterans, coaching deficiencies, goaltending, ADA. injuries, Panarins LOA... but this team has gone from 3.33 GF to 2.68 GF in a division with the 7 other teams giving up close to 3 goals per game.

It's not the East we thought it would be from that perspective. In fact, the "run-and-gun" North gives up less goals per game than the teams the Rangers play against every night.

When you lose this much production from your top player it has a huge trickle down effect on everyone. The PP suffers greatly and even if he was producing at half of how he performed last season, this team would be in the hunt.

 

[romba]

This is Karma for all the HFNYRers who ran to the main boards last year to ask if he still looks like a 2c

 

[True Blue]

I hate to put a majority of the Rangers failures on Mika, because I think he's a tremendous guy and player - but whatever is going on with him is absolutely killing this team.

The "blame" can be spread around the room. Leadership from other veterans, coaching deficiencies, goaltending, ADA. injuries, Panarins LOA... but this team has gone from 3.33 GF to 2.68 GF in a division with the 7 other teams giving up close to 3 goals per game.

It's not the East we thought it would be from that perspective. In fact, the "run-and-gun" North gives up less goals per game than the teams the Rangers play against every night.

When you lose this much production from your top player it has a huge trickle down effect on everyone. The PP suffers greatly and even if he was producing at half of how he performed last season, this team would be in the hunt.

This is as spot on as it gets. One cannot understate what the ramifications are of your top center completely falling off the cliff. If he were 80% of the 2018 version, this team is in playoff contention.

 

[Peltz]

Might not necessarily feel like it, but this is the one year anniversary of that game. Last Rangers game I've been too and pretty much signified the last "normal" kind of night that I've had in a long time. I remember getting off the train going to MSG and using hand sanitizer after being down there thinking that it would help.

After the 4th goal, giving them the lead was just wild emotions. Had never seen anything like that. OV scoring literally right after was super deflating, but after the 5th goal it was just absolute insanity in the building, high fiving and hugging random people around me. Thinking back with what I know now, could have ended really poorly.

2nd game ever where I almost lost my voice, the other being G7 vs Philly in 2014. Also the 3rd time I literally jumped out of my seat (Stepan OT winner and MSL OT winner).

I was there too. The only game I went to all year in fact. Feels like another lifetime ago lol

 

[HockeyBasedNYC]

This is as spot on as it gets. One cannot understate what the ramifications are of your top center completely falling off the cliff. If he were 80% of the 2018 version, this team is in playoff contention.

Absolutely no doubt about that, whatsoever.

If he even has 10 goals right now that's probably 5-6 more points in the standings. And who knows. Maybe the PP is clicking better, morale is higher... whatever. When someone of his magnitude and importance to the team just completely shits the bed there's really no coaching, defensive structure or lineup moves you can make to remedy it.

The Rangers have another guy to carry them but hes been out. There's not much after Panarin. Kreider isnt a play driver. He finishes plays when hes on, makes hell for the goalie and defenseman around the net. Zib does it all. Or did it all.

Especially when you consider all of the other garbage that has gone on this season. Its really been a shitshow.

 

[xsniper11x]

Little perspective on Mika. Let’s combine the last two seasons and compare it to his breakout 2018-209 season:

2018-2019 Season
82GP, 30G, 44A, 74P, 236 SOG, 13% SH%

2019-2021 to date
83GP, 44G, 42A, 86P, 282 SOG, 15% SH%

The Hockey Gods are funny sometimes. Zibby isn’t the player he was last year (he was shooting nearly 20%) but he’s also much better than we’re seeing this year. The volatility in his play is certainly a cause for concern and is something Gorton and Co will have to consider on his next deal. However, I do think all the talk of COVID effects are overblown. Sounds more like an insane hot streak followed by a confidence shattering cold streak for player who tends to ride very high or very low.