Confirmed with Link: Zib Extension; 8 years, $8.5M per

[THE BIG WHISTLE]

Great deal! I remember the articles about him costing 10 mill lol

Plus these articles made it sound like it was a NO-BRAINER he was going to get 10 million plus

 

[FoxysExpensiveNYDigs]

People complaining about term...Guys no upcoming UFA is signing less than 7 years. These guys want financial stability, so please come back to reality. He wasn't going to sign a 5 year deal to make YOU happy.

This right here. Its @bernmeister levels of unrealistic to expect these UFAs to accept less. Glad to have him locked up long term, amazing player.

 

[The New Russian Five]

Can anyone tell me why this takes us out of the running for Eichel? A Zib-Eichel 1-2 punch at center could be great for years. Not worried about the cap - we can find a home for Kreider or Trouba in a couple years when the kids need to get paid. Part of me feels like Larry saying “this should quiet the Eichel talk” is just posturing.

I'm still confused about how people assume we can just trade players with full on NMCs.

 

[GAGLine]

As important as the NMC protection will be, we also need to see how much is in bonus money. Hopefully there isn't a lot of bonus money in the last 3 years, so it isn't buyout proof.

Regardless, this is a great contract and I'm very happy that's it done. Now we can stop talking about Eichel, because we aren't affording Eichel's 10 mil cap hit now.

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

Yea I too agree that a fair AAV for Mika would be the same as Chris Kreider, Anders Lee, and James Van Riemsdyk

While I agree with this sentiment wholeheartedly, I offer your periodic reminder that Chris Kreider did not in fact sign for $7.0MM AAV as everyone repeats ad nauseum, but actually $6.5MM.

 

[Levitate]

All players physically decline. It is inevitable. Players that remain productive as they physically decline are usually (a) very smart and (b) able to adjust their game to compensate for their physical decline. That’s Crosby. I think Panarin will be in the same mold. Zibanejad is much more reliant of his physical abilities than his smarts. And when he struggled for much of the past year, he did not appear to make any adjustments to his game to contribute in a different way. He played the same game in the hopes that the next one-timer wasn’t going to go wide. Eventually, it came back to him. There will be a time during this contract where the physical decline is permanent. Can he compensate? I have serious concerns based on what I’ve seen.

I doubt many players make in season adjustments to their game. Mikka had covid and knew he wasn't 100%. He kept trying to play his same game because he knew it'd come back eventually.

 

[THE BIG WHISTLE]

All players physically decline. It is inevitable. Players that remain productive as they physically decline are usually (a) very smart and (b) able to adjust their game to compensate for their physical decline. That’s Crosby. I think Panarin will be in the same mold. Zibanejad is much more reliant of his physical abilities than his smarts. And when he struggled for much of the past year, he did not appear to make any adjustments to his game to contribute in a different way. He played the same game in the hopes that the next one-timer wasn’t going to go wide. Eventually, it came back to him. There will be a time during this contract where the physical decline is permanent. Can he compensate? I have serious concerns based on what I’ve seen.

I think last year was more of the COVID hangover than dealing with injuries etc

 

[TheDirtyH]

Mika takes a discount, we eat a couple extra seasons. By year six, Panarin's deal will be up, Trouba's deal will be up, Goodrow's deal will be up, Kreider's deal will be up. It's what to do in the meantime with the kids.

RFAs are not cheap anymore.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Just find a way to dump Trouba and we’re sitting pretty

 

[Kords]

You know Drury threw Larry a breadcrumb literally 2 minutes before the official announcement just so it's technically a "scoop"

 

[LokiDog]

Beyond fine with it. Mika’s been unstoppable aside from 27 games of covid hangover and as we saw in preseason, his shot is in mid season form. He’ll give us 3-4 years of above point per game performance, 1 or 2 of near point per game performance and even those final years he should still be around a 50+ point player. He’s a huge part of the core and the best center we’ve had in decades. Love me some Mika and 8.5M is fine.

 

[leetch99]

Fox, Kakko, and Kravtsov need extensions after this season, and Chytil and Laf need one after the following season.

This is only the beginning for Drury

As you know...some will have to go !

 

[Kords]

Also, man is it hard being a fan of this team. It's one thing for other teams fans to constantly bag on us, but holy hell are our fans just as negative. Total killer inside the house vibes, wish we could all just be stoked for once. We have such a great team, we're spoiled.

 

[duhmetreE]

8 years is too long. 8.5 is great value.

worry about his 35+ years when we get there I guess. Fair trade off. We have our window now.

 

[Bacon Artemi Bravo]

Just find a way to dump Trouba and we’re sitting pretty

His Fiance/wife has to be done with Med School soon right? Early retirement and stay at home husband could be a very nice option for him.

 

[haveandare]

Great news. Exponentially less risky than trying to get Eichel

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

Loved the deal the day we acquired Mika, and beyond thrilled they just locked him up at this number. With all the realistic options for 1C, signing him for a reasonable AAV on a longterm deal was the best possible of a range of not-ideal options.

 

[TheDirtyH]

Is Strome a self rental this season?

 

[RGY]

Rattled! Incompetency!

This is too funny

 

[Zats Muccarello]

Amazing deal and great work getting this done before the season

 

[BBKers]

I drank whiskey all day and see I missed all my calls. Revoke the insider status

 

[nsvoyageurs]

I don't like giving Zibanejad 8 years, but I don't want to give up assets for Eichel. Hopefully the Eichel to the NYR talk comes to an end. If that's the case, I can live with the Zibanejad deal.

 

[NYRKING30]

I drank whiskey all day and see I missed all my calls. Revoke the insider status

Can we call you The Outsider now?

 

[Lindberg Cheese]

Alright I guess, I was hoping for 4yrs x 7 mil

 

[Oscar Lindberg]

Drury has been hit or miss on contracts but this one is good. 8 years is tough but was always going to be 7 or 8, 5 or 6 was never realistic

I’m fine with them trading the 8th year for a lower AAV

would assume this ends all talk of Eichel, which I’m fine with the way this contract shook out