![\"Mika](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Mika-Zibanejad.jpg\")
Mika Zibanejad has scored 33 goals this season. Danny Wild-Imagn Images<\/p>\nAt this time last year, the questions swirled. The rumors \u2014 and speculation \u2014 did, too. On paper, Mika Zibanejad had a full no-move clause. He had five years remaining on his deal. That, based on context alone, would\u2019ve made him a guarantee to return.<\/p>\n
But the Blueshirts were in the middle of disassembling their core, a task that started in December 2024 with Jacob Trouba and then continued in the offseason with Chris Kreider. It was the retool before the public retool, The Memo from president and general manager Chris Drury to other teams before The Letter 2.0 from Drury to fans. Zibanejad said at the time he had no plans of going anywhere. He believed in this group.<\/p>\n
One year later, that belief from Zibanejad has been validated. Not in terms of success, with the Rangers still last in the Eastern Conference entering Wednesday\u2019s home finale against the Sabres. <\/p>\n
Mika Zibanejad has scored 33 goals this season. Danny Wild-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
His 33 goals and 75 points mark Zibanejad\u2019s most since the 2022-23 campaign, back when the Stanley Cup window felt wide open for that past era of Blueshirts. <\/p>\n
He has played an integral role in the blossoming of rookie Gabe Perreault (10 goals, 25 points) and former No. 1 overall pick Alexis Lafreni\u00e8re (22 goals, 52 points) on the top line. <\/p>\n
During the lowest moments last year and into the offseason, the optics surrounding Zibanejad suggested that perhaps he wouldn\u2019t be part of the solution to everything that went wrong and would become the latest Rangers piece to be left in the past.<\/p>\n
Instead, he has become a bridge to their future.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he takes responsibility for helping some of the younger guys,\u201d head coach Mike Sullivan said after Tuesday\u2019s practice in Tarrytown. \u201cMika\u2019s not a real rah-rah guy, but I think he\u2019s a quiet leader and these are some of the ways that it manifests itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Mika](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Mika-Zibanejad-2.jpg\")
Mika Zibanejad (left) is congratulated by Gabe Perrault after scoring a goal during the second period of the Rangers\u2019 loss to the Blue Jackets on March 19, 2026. NHLI via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Zibanejad didn\u2019t want to take credit for the success of his linemates. He described Perreault and Lafreni\u00e8re as highly talented and skilled. He called them fun to skate alongside because of how they see the game. But Sullivan pointed to Zibanejad using the iPad alongside them on the bench while also being demanding and helping the young wingers understand why they\u2019re having success as examples for how he has embraced a mentorship role.<\/p>\n
And along the way, Zibanejad has given his career a second act. When questions started being asked last year about his future, he knew that was normal. He reset mentally over the summer. The meeting with Sullivan in Sweden helped, he said. And when he returned for the start of the season, Zibanejad wasn\u2019t worried about the struggles carrying over from last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would\u2019ve been easy to play along with what happened last year and have that be the truth,\u201d Zibanejad said, \u201cbut I feel like the belief in myself and what I\u2019m capable of doing and what I think I can do, and then obviously from the coaching staff, it\u2019s been a good mix.\u201d<\/p>\n
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He recently skated in his 1,000th career game. He recorded a fifth consecutive season with at least 40 or more assists and a sixth season with 70 or more points, with the latter placing him fifth all time in Rangers history for that category. He leads the Blueshirts in points and goals this year. He leads them all time in power-play goals.<\/p>\n
And perhaps most importantly, he has helped shape the rise of two foundational pieces for the Rangers\u2019 next era. Perreault is just 20 years old. Lafreni\u00e8re is just 24. In 18 games together, they\u2019ve generated 44 high-danger scoring chances while allowing 35 against, according to Natural Stat Trick. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
They produced 12 goals \u2014 the second most for any Rangers line combination this season, trailing just the Artemi Panarin-Vincent Trocheck-Lafreni\u00e8re line that had seasons\u2019 worth of chemistry to work with.<\/p>\n
Most of the questions \u2014 the bulk of them pressing \u2014 surrounding Zibanejad have faded, too. He still has four years remaining on his deal. He still has the no-move clause. That, by this point, has all become an afterthought with his revival.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoubting myself,\u201d Zibanejad said, \u201cwas not the option coming into the season.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At this time last year, the questions swirled. The rumors \u2014 and speculation \u2014 did, too. On paper,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":546615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5111],"tags":[5,160,3328,35,5190,5193,4,36,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-546614","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-rangers","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-mika-zibanejad","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-rangers","12":"tag-newyork","13":"tag-newyorkrangers","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-rangers","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116366858716610974","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/546615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}