Mika Zibanejad's been able to find his game, away from Madison Square Garden. Suiting up for Sweden, the New York Rangers forward has found the missing production we're used to seeing.![Mika Zibanejad, Lucas Carlsson]()
The New York Rangers center, Mika Zibanejad, has been playing in the IIHF with Sweden this summer. Fortunately for us all, it seems he's found himself in international competition.
Is this a positive sign that his game has returned? Zibanejad has scored a total of four goals for Sweden in six games.
Described as "calm" you can see it on the ice, as he plays with the kind of cool we used to see him have wearing a Blueshirt.
«He takes on that leadership role in the locker room,» Rasmus Andersson said of Zibanejad at the World Championship. «For him too, I think he can relax a little bit. Obviously there's a lot of pressure playing for the Rangers. He's been really himself here and he takes a big leadership role on the ice and people follow him.»
It was obvious from the start of the year that Zibanejad had been dealing with confidence issues that plagued his game.
In 82 games with the Rangers, he scored 62 points, a decline from the last three seasons, which saw him score 91 and 72 back-to-back.
«I feel like mentally what I went through the first few months was probably the toughest I've ever been through in my career in a different way «There was more to it than that,» Zibanejad said about whether his poor mental state stemmed from confidence. «Obviously, the confidence takes a turn. I think if you follow me and see how I play, you can tell what makes me good and when I play free, but I feel like I didn't do that the first three months.»
Zibanejad has a high hockey IQ, which puzzled us this season as he wasn't able to find his game in the NHL.
Known as a hockey guru by his Swedish teammates for his ability to analyze the game, one would hope he'd be able to put it back into practice in New York.
