I was honestly probably one of those people given the neck stuff but man that was massive swing and a miss.
well also when we had hopes that Kakko would be something.
But there's definitely just bad shit that happens and you can't quite predict. Again, Zibanejad had his best years after he signed that contract extension. He signed Oct of 2021, that year he put up 29-52-81, his best full season totals of his career (though he had trended higher in the shortened years prior). The next season he put up 39-52-91
It was really last year that he severely started falling off. Not that he wasn't always a power play merchant to some extent, but his actual overall game took a big nosedive and continues to do so.
So, for two years after signing that contract Zibanejad produced accordingly and out produced Eichel (and Eichel continues to miss games)
whatevers going on, whether it's covid relapse, mental health issues, distracted and not taking hockey seriously, getting old, I dunno, but it mostly went into high gear this season and started last season