Player Discussion Mika Zibanejad

[Shesterkybomb]

In the Blues game end of second period scrum he grabbed Buch so he wouldnt get hurt and let Cuylle and Rempe deal with Parayko. Then yesterday Dach starts the battle against him and he lets Cuylle take on 2 guys, Quick throw punches for him and Berard (a rookie in his 5th game lol) get paired of with WiFi. Pathetic showing from this guy and I expect more of the same against NJ tonight. Keep playing for the power plays you bum.

Exactly, he goes out of his way to not have any type of confrontation, he needs to be gone, you can't build a team with players who won't have each other's back. If he doesn't want to be a 6'3 nhl player in ny he should pack his bags.

 

[Levitate]

I don't even vaguely expect ZIbanejad to be mixing it up in scrums...lotta "big" skill NHL players aren't getting in there and fighting with other guys, it's far more his passive attitude in terms of puck battles and management that's a big goddamn deal

 

[McRanger92]

I don't even vaguely expect ZIbanejad to be mixing it up in scrums...lotta "big" skill NHL players aren't getting in there and fighting with other guys, it's far more his passive attitude in terms of puck battles and management that's a big goddamn deal

All symptoms of the same issue.

 

[LokiDog]

I don't even vaguely expect ZIbanejad to be mixing it up in scrums...lotta "big" skill NHL players aren't getting in there and fighting with other guys, it's far more his passive attitude in terms of puck battles and management that's a big goddamn deal

I agree with this entirely, but also the next post that says they’re symptoms of the same problem. Malkin is hardly a really pugnacious player but he goes hard after the puck and he is always scrumming after whistles. It’s feistiness. Fight in the dog, so to speak. No one expects it to be more than some shoves and some mouthing off but then he also WANTS his puck. Same with Mackinnon. Same with Sutzle. There’s plenty of skill guys, big and small, whom you don’t want in the penalty box OR getting hurt but who show that they’re simply spirited competitors all over the ice, including being a bit lippy or feisty after the whistle. Mika is not feisty or competitive before or after the whistle. He is a talented individual with very nice size who is passive in virtually every thing that he does, and which makes him about 50% as effective as he could be if he just WANTED it.