Former NHLer Sean Avery buried New York Rangers superstar forward Mika Zibanejad.
During the Rangers 4-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings on October 14, Avery was not pleased with Zibanejad’s play. He thought the superstar forward was trying and not putting any effort in.
“Alright, let’s watch Mika Zibanejad do nothing for 20 seconds, bottom of the screen here, 93 blue,” Avery said. “There he is, okay he’s going to hide, he’s looking for easy backdoor plays, he doesn’t want to get his hands dirty. I don’t know what the (expletive) that was, okay Mika, DJing in Ibiza all summer, here we go, bear down Mika, bear down Mika, season’s started Mika.”
Avery was not thrilled with the effort Zibanejad was putting in as he felt like a superstar player of caliber should be taking over a game more than he was putting in on that shift.
However, Zibanejad did finish the game with 1 goal and 2 assists for 3 points. It was his first points of the 2024-25 NHL season.
Zibanejad is in the third year of his eight-year $68 million deal.
Zibanejad Believes Chemistry is Still Needed on Rangers Top Line
New York traded for Reilly Smith this offseason to put him on the top line with Zibanejad and Chris Kreider.
Through three games, Zibanejad says they are trying to build chemistry but they are not where he wants them to be.
“I thought some shifts, yeah (we were in a flow), but we’re close,” Zibanejad said. “I think we’re close to clicking. That’s why I can’t say here yes. We’re working on it. We want this to work as much as anyone else. I think it’s frustrating when we don’t connect, but obviously, we’ll keep working on it. We do a good job just sticking to it, sticking to it.
“We all believe that we’re going to be successful and we’re going to have a good line. It’s right there, but I can’t say, ‘Yes, this was a game-breaker.’ There’s definitely things we want to continue doing. I like the line,” Zibanejad added. “Obviously, as a player, you want it to connect as soon as possible. It’s a long season, so hopefully we can get there.”
Zibanejad is in his ninth season with the Rangers. In his tenure with New York, he’s skated in 570 games recording 231 goals and 299 assists for 530 points.
Analyst Calls Zibanejad’s Contract Bad
NHL analyst Sean McIndoe of The Athletic was exploring contracts and whether or not they are good or bad for teams.
One contract that McIndoe looked at was Zibanejad’s given he’s in the third year of an eight-year deal that carries an $8.5 million cap hit, and he’ll be 37 when the contract expires.
Although Zibanejad is still producing, McIndoe believes that Zibaenjad having a full no-movement clause makes it a bad contract.
“I went into this thinking Zibanejad would narrowly escape a bad contract verdict, since I view him as a marginally better player and his deal is a bit shorter,” McIndoe wrote. “But digging a bit deeper into the NMC and buyout aspects gave me some second thoughts.
“So you guys would take Zibanejad over Scheifele,” McIndoe added. “But that doesn’t mean he has to have a different ranking, and if there’s not much room between his deal and Scheifele’s, we have to give them the same verdict. That means a narrow “bad” for Zibanejad, somewhat to my surprise.”
In the 2023-24 NHL season, Zibanejad skated in 81 games recording 26 goals and 46 assists for 72 points.
