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Player Discussion Mika Zibanejad

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Goals scored by a center between 2017/18 and 2023/24

1. Auston Matthews - 328
2. Leon Draisaitl - 297
3. Connor McDavid - 289
4. Nathan MacKinnon - 260
5. Brayden Point - 246
6. Steven Stamkos - 234
7. Sebastian Aho - 230
8. John Tavares - 221
9. Mika Zibanejad - 216
10. Sam Reinhart - 215

Fun fact: Only 3 names on this list played less games than Mika.
Fun fact #2: Only 2 names on this list had lower shooting % than Mika.
 
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Siddi said:
Goals scored by a center between 2017/18 and 2023/24

1. Auston Matthews - 328
2. Leon Draisaitl - 297
3. Connor McDavid - 289
4. Nathan MacKinnon - 260
5. Brayden Point - 246
6. Steven Stamkos - 234
7. Sebastian Aho - 230
8. John Tavares - 221
9. Mika Zibanejad - 216
10. Sam Reinhart - 215

Fun fact: Only 3 names on this list played less games than Mika.
Fun fact #2: Only 2 names on this list had lower shooting % than Mika.
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If we could project those numbers over the remainder of his contract, I'd take it in a heartbeat. The problem is, we can't. He's on pace for 17 goals. His lowest total since 2017/18 was 24, and that was in a 56-game season.

I don't care what he has done previously. Those goals are already spent and won't win us a cup. I care about what he is doing now, and right now, he sucks.
 
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If Mika plays well for Sweden, any chance he comes back and looks bad does he get frustrated and request a trade? One can hope. Blessing in disguise if this was to happen.
 
GAGLine said:
If we could project those numbers over the remainder of his contract, I'd take it in a heartbeat. The problem is, we can't. He's on pace for 17 goals. His lowest total since 2017/18 was 24, and that was in a 56-game season.

I don't care what he has done previously. Those goals are already spent and won't win us a cup. I care about what he is doing now, and right now, he sucks.
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Relax. Nobody is forcing you to care about anything you dont want to and we are all in agreement that him and the team sucks right now.

My post was a reply to those who claimed just a page back that he never was elite or that he was overrated. You dont reach a top 10 status among your peers over the past 5 years by chance.
 
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Siddi said:
Goals scored by a center between 2017/18 and 2023/24

1. Auston Matthews - 328
2. Leon Draisaitl - 297
3. Connor McDavid - 289
4. Nathan MacKinnon - 260
5. Brayden Point - 246
6. Steven Stamkos - 234
7. Sebastian Aho - 230
8. John Tavares - 221
9. Mika Zibanejad - 216
10. Sam Reinhart - 215

Fun fact: Only 3 names on this list played less games than Mika.
Fun fact #2: Only 2 names on this list had lower shooting % than Mika.
Click to expand...

This isn’t particularly relevant, given how far back it goes. No one is arguing he wasn’t a 1C and most are saying that briefly he was right around 8-15th in the league, but that has no barring on the fact that he has been a bit worse virtually each season since the Covid break.

Being 9th in goals for centers since 2017-18 is not something to sneeze at, I agree, but there are plenty of “better” centers who skew more towards playmaking than being the trigger man. Moreover, he scored a ton of his goals on the PP. Sort by PPG and he’s 3rd in that stretch. Sort the same time period by EVG for centers and he drops to 33 in goals. That paints a very different picture for a 1C on a team with Cup aspirations.

Being top 10 in a single category doesn’t make you top 10 overall either. There’s better centers who get more assists. There’s better centers who win Selke trophies. There’s centers who produce far more at 5v5 than getting all their goals on the PP. etc. My post specifically said he was around 10-15 overall at his pinnacle. That still feels accurate given the numbers you shared.
 
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McRanger92 said:
His confidence slipping is such a cop out when his home country chose him as one of the first players for their National team in the 4 Nations.
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I think it was probably an issue of overconfidence to begin with that's quickly become a crisis of confidence now.

That's the team as a whole, really. Got very used to winning games without playing 5v5, and now for whatever set of reasons, the other shoe is dropping and they don't have anything to fall back on. Mika thought he was playing really well all last year and through the playoffs.

He defended his Conference finals performance because of how little Barkov scored. When he said that, it was really obvious to me that this is a player who has lost the plot.

The team needs to change, like the players have to play differently. Pretty much to a man but these big names especially. I personally think Mika's "sudden decline" from a numbers perspective is all about Kreider--who, being older, with many more miles on him, and who's spent a decade getting beaten in the other team's crease, is in all likelihood actually just breaking down. Mika's bad habits were mitigated first by the combination of Buch and Kreider, then by Kreider himself. Now he's got neither to lean on to the degree he needed to. And we see the results, he doesn't get to point to those lame numbers and say see I'm doing my part.
 
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LokiDog said:
This isn’t particularly relevant, given how far back it goes. No one is arguing he wasn’t a 1C and most are saying that briefly he was right around 8-15th in the league, but that has no barring on the fact that he has been a bit worse virtually each season since the Covid break.

Being 9th in goals for centers since 2017-18 is not something to sneeze at, I agree, but there are plenty of “better” centers who skew more towards playmaking than being the trigger man. Moreover, he scored a ton of his goals on the PP. Sort by PPG and he’s 3rd in that stretch. Sort the same time period by EVG for centers and he drops to 33 in goals. That paints a very different picture for a 1C on a team with Cup aspirations.

Being top 10 in a single category doesn’t make you top 10 overall either. There’s better centers who get more assists. There’s better centers who win Selke trophies. There’s centers who produce far more at 5v5 than getting all their goals on the PP. etc.
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Nothing is relevant if it goes against the flavor of the month narrative. Is it not relevant to all the players on that list or is it just Mikas numbers that are not relevant?

Of course its not relevant to his play right now. But the last couple of pages are filled with post claiming that he in fact never was a 1C or that he never was elite. I like to call out hyperbole and if that makes me a Mika homer in some posters eyes then so be it. I couldnt care less.
 
TheDirtyH said:
I think it was probably an issue of overconfidence to begin with that's quickly become a crisis of confidence now.

That's the team as a whole, really. Got very used to winning games without playing 5v5, and now for whatever set of reasons, the other shoe is dropping and they don't have anything to fall back on. Mika thought he was playing really well all last year and through the playoffs.

He defended his Conference finals performance because of how little Barkov scored. When he said that, it was really obvious to me that this is a player who has lost the plot.

The team needs to change, like the players have to play differently. Pretty much to a man but these big names especially. I personally think Mika's "sudden decline" from a numbers perspective is all about Kreider--who, being older, with many more miles on him, and who's spent a decade getting beaten in the other team's crease, is in all likelihood actually just breaking down. Mika's bad habits were mitigated first by the combination of Buch and Kreider, then by Kreider himself. Now he's got neither to lean on to the degree he needed to. And we see the results, he doesn't get to point to those lame numbers and say see I'm doing my part.
Click to expand...

I mean I feel like this goes back to the AV days (even though obviously the roster isn't the same so it shouldn't), but I remember that team feeling like they got overconfident with the SCF appearance and ECF appearance and started doing the "we know we're good we just gotta pace ourselves and we'll turn it around" and they too often played without urgency or speed, just like they assumed past success would mean it was all good.

I also agree some of this is bad habits from Mika. When Kreider scored 50 it also felt like Mika decided that he had to be the playmaker and his job was to feed Kreider and he stopped shooting as much and instead mostly wanted to just line up for the one timer. His wrist shot went MIA and he was far more likely to spend every last second waiting for a chance to pass than to challenge the goalie.

His coaches touting him as a "shut down line" against other teams top lines has also been a disaster. He's not a player who can shut down other top players and produce as well. He can only kinnnnda shut down other players sometimes too, but regardless, you don't want to neuter your #1 center by forcing him to be the matchup guy and accepting that he's not going to score at all while doing that.

Bad habits bad coaching and poor mental reponses to challenges. I'd love to see him find a way to shake it up and regain some of this but I dunno if he has it in him at this point
 
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LokiDog said:
Being top 10 in a single category doesn’t make you top 10 overall either. There’s better centers who get more assists. There’s better centers who win Selke trophies. There’s centers who produce far more at 5v5 than getting all their goals on the PP. etc. My post specifically said he was around 10-15 overall at his pinnacle. That still feels accurate given the numbers you shared.
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How about 13 overall in points scored during that same time? We all agree that he sucks right now (even though he is trending slightly upwards lately) but can we please stop with the mental gymnastics about his overall career?

Edit: And to be clear. I am not calling you out specifically.
 
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TheDirtyH said:
I think it was probably an issue of overconfidence to begin with that's quickly become a crisis of confidence now.

That's the team as a whole, really. Got very used to winning games without playing 5v5, and now for whatever set of reasons, the other shoe is dropping and they don't have anything to fall back on. Mika thought he was playing really well all last year and through the playoffs.

He defended his Conference finals performance because of how little Barkov scored. When he said that, it was really obvious to me that this is a player who has lost the plot.

The team needs to change, like the players have to play differently. Pretty much to a man but these big names especially. I personally think Mika's "sudden decline" from a numbers perspective is all about Kreider--who, being older, with many more miles on him, and who's spent a decade getting beaten in the other team's crease, is in all likelihood actually just breaking down. Mika's bad habits were mitigated first by the combination of Buch and Kreider, then by Kreider himself. Now he's got neither to lean on to the degree he needed to. And we see the results, he doesn't get to point to those lame numbers and say see I'm doing my part.
Click to expand...

I’ve been thinking about it more recently, because it’s become a team wide issue, but the pressure and expectations are probably getting to them. They have come close but not that close. They may like each other as a group but they also know they probably can’t win as currently constructed. Not to mention Florida, NJ & Tampa (last 3 teams to beat us) don’t have fan and media pressure to face like the Rangers do. I certainly am as hard on them as anyone.

For Mika specific I feel he’s the same player he’s always been. On his best days he’s a middle of the pack 1C. Top 6/PK1/PP1. The problem is the bouts of self doubt have become much more frequent and longer. In the 2022 playoffs he was a force. He was the team MVP in 2023 but no one remembers because everyone including him sucked in that series. It’s just a mentality change the whole team needs to collectively make. They need a leader who will lead them. It will give the whole team more confidence.
 
TheDirtyH said:
I think it was probably an issue of overconfidence to begin with that's quickly become a crisis of confidence now.

That's the team as a whole, really. Got very used to winning games without playing 5v5, and now for whatever set of reasons, the other shoe is dropping and they don't have anything to fall back on. Mika thought he was playing really well all last year and through the playoffs.

He defended his Conference finals performance because of how little Barkov scored. When he said that, it was really obvious to me that this is a player who has lost the plot.

The team needs to change, like the players have to play differently. Pretty much to a man but these big names especially. I personally think Mika's "sudden decline" from a numbers perspective is all about Kreider--who, being older, with many more miles on him, and who's spent a decade getting beaten in the other team's crease, is in all likelihood actually just breaking down. Mika's bad habits were mitigated first by the combination of Buch and Kreider, then by Kreider himself. Now he's got neither to lean on to the degree he needed to. And we see the results, he doesn't get to point to those lame numbers and say see I'm doing my part.
Click to expand...
I agree mostly but it's been a combined effort. Kreider is not innocent from culpability. Both refuse to forecheck. Both made their living off the rush. Mika fell in love with tipping pucks as much as Kreider. He's starting to attempt now shots again but for awhile he was looking exclusively to feed Chris.
 
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Levitate said:
I mean I feel like this goes back to the AV days (even though obviously the roster isn't the same so it shouldn't), but I remember that team feeling like they got overconfident with the SCF appearance and ECF appearance and started doing the "we know we're good we just gotta pace ourselves and we'll turn it around" and they too often played without urgency or speed, just like they assumed past success would mean it was all good.

I also agree some of this is bad habits from Mika. When Kreider scored 50 it also felt like Mika decided that he had to be the playmaker and his job was to feed Kreider and he stopped shooting as much and instead mostly wanted to just line up for the one timer. His wrist shot went MIA and he was far more likely to spend every last second waiting for a chance to pass than to challenge the goalie.

His coaches touting him as a "shut down line" against other teams top lines has also been a disaster. He's not a player who can shut down other top players and produce as well. He can only kinnnnda shut down other players sometimes too, but regardless, you don't want to neuter your #1 center by forcing him to be the matchup guy and accepting that he's not going to score at all while doing that.

Bad habits bad coaching and poor mental reponses to challenges. I'd love to see him find a way to shake it up and regain some of this but I dunno if he has it in him at this point
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Touché. Zib, at the start of the season, said that "someone has to get Kreider the puck".

The root problem for this org is poor management that leads to weak coaching and weak attitude and habits in the room.
 
Levitate said:
I mean I feel like this goes back to the AV days (even though obviously the roster isn't the same so it shouldn't), but I remember that team feeling like they got overconfident with the SCF appearance and ECF appearance and started doing the "we know we're good we just gotta pace ourselves and we'll turn it around" and they too often played without urgency or speed, just like they assumed past success would mean it was all good.

I also agree some of this is bad habits from Mika. When Kreider scored 50 it also felt like Mika decided that he had to be the playmaker and his job was to feed Kreider and he stopped shooting as much and instead mostly wanted to just line up for the one timer. His wrist shot went MIA and he was far more likely to spend every last second waiting for a chance to pass than to challenge the goalie.

His coaches touting him as a "shut down line" against other teams top lines has also been a disaster. He's not a player who can shut down other top players and produce as well. He can only kinnnnda shut down other players sometimes too, but regardless, you don't want to neuter your #1 center by forcing him to be the matchup guy and accepting that he's not going to score at all while doing that.

Bad habits bad coaching and poor mental reponses to challenges. I'd love to see him find a way to shake it up and regain some of this but I dunno if he has it in him at this point
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Yah the shutdown matchup role might be the biggest fraud Turk and Lav tried to swindle. Name me a soft shutdown center. Hell Bergeron has a history on concussions played 100 times more physical.

Mika is the classic case of getting away with physical talent for so long that now that he has lost a step and isn't as strong on his skates he's getting rag dolled. Almost everything wrong with him starts between the ears. It's up to him to change his style.
 
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n8 said:
We saw some effort last game but he has had some really terrible games this year. Full on primary give away leading to a goal, brutal to non-existent back checking effort is some cases, while he's still defending ok on the PK, there is a clear lack of pressure and aggression which in the past drove a lot of SHG chances. He's looked slow on a lot of reads too which has also led to several goals. I think he still has the skill. His head is just somehow not in it. He's thinking at AHL speeds right now.
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If it were lack of effort Lav would staple him to the bench and start scratching him.

Either his physical skills have eroded, he has lost confidence, or both.

This isn't new. It started last season.

McRanger92 said:
His confidence slipping is such a cop out when his home country chose him as one of the first players for their National team in the 4 Nations.
Click to expand...

The correct evaluation to make here is that Sweden is nuts for taking him.

In any case, my statement wasn't a cop out. Your statement makes no sense to me.
 
bleedblue94 said:
Mika showed tonight that he can still play with speed, effort, and some intensity when he wants to OR when he's motivated. Hope he figures it out.
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Was his best game in a long while, especially 5v5. It's a step in the right direction.

I hope it continues.
 
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