Mika Zibanejad’s role has been the subject of conversation for quite some time now, essentially since he signed his massive 8 year, $8.5 million annually contract. Signed to be the 1C and lead the team in scoring, Zibanejad’s role was just that in the first two years of his contract. The 22-23 season was the best of his career before he had a rough offensive season at 5v5 last year (still putting up 72 points, mind you). This season, Zibanejad’s role has changed, and it’s going to benefit the Rangers in the long term.
Mika Zibanejad’s contract will age poorly. Let’s get that out of the way. Again, let’s focus on the on-ice role and results.
Last season was Zibanejad’s role first in a more complex shutdown and scoring role, though the word “shutdown” is admittedly doing some heavy lifting here. Peter Laviolette shifted his role when he first took over, and Zibanejad–along with Chris Kreider–has seen far more defensive responsibilities and tougher competition as a result.
Saying Zibanejad’s role is now a shutdown role is a bit of a misnomer, but it’s the best we have right now. Zibanejad’s role is to eat minutes against top competition, opening up depth matchups for Artemi Panarin’s line and Filip Chytil’s line to feast. Through three games–Utah not withstanding, yeesh that was ugly all around–it’s been working.
Part of the issue last season was with the Filip Chytil injury. His injury completely removed a secondary scoring line from the Rangers, forcing them to rely on Zibanejad’s line as a primary scoring line while also serving as a shutdown line. That’s not a fair ask.
Chytil’s presence in the lineup and Zibanejad’s role are connected. As long as the Rangers have a third line that can dictate pace and score, we won’t feel the impact of Zibanejad’s role on the score sheet. Zibanejad will continue to get difficult 5v5 assignments, taking the heat away from Panarin and Chytil. Three games is hardly a sample, but we also saw this in the first 10 games last season.
As long as the Rangers have two additional lines that can handle the offensive load at 5v5, then Zibanejad’s role doesn’t come under a microscope. Last night’s win, for example, shows us how connected all of this is.
Zibanejad was lined up primarily against Dylan Larkin’s line, with Patrick Kane and Alex Debrincat. That’s a tough line to be matched up against. Zibanejad’s line was held scoreless at 5v5 and on paper had a horrid -11 shot attempt differential. However, only 3 shifts presented an xGA over 0.1, and Larkin’s line only mustered 2 high danger chances against Zibanejad. Their goal was not against the Zibanejad line either.
In short, while the quantity against is bad and leads to minimal offensive zone time, Zibanejad’s role is to prevent high danger chances against, taking that top line out of the game. Limiting Debrincat-Larkin-Kane to 2 high danger chances against while matched up is very good.
For some, this simply isn’t good enough. I disagree wholeheartedly. Zibanejad’s role is fine, even if it does lead to fewer 5v5 goals for. It’s about the overall team product on the ice. Everyone has a role. As long as everyone’s healthy, these roles won’t change, and the Rangers will continue to be a top team.
To avoid missing the forest for the trees, let’s summarize roles:
- Kreider-Zibanejad-Smith: Hybrid scoring/shutdown
- Panarin-Trocheck-Lafreniere: Offensive zone starts, pure scoring
- Cuylle-Chytil-Kakko: Secondary scoring, likely to evolve to secondary shutdown line
- Edstrom-Carrick/Vesey/Rempe/Brodzinski: Defensive zone starts, hopefully offensive zone finishes
When everything is firing on all cylinders, the Rangers are tough to beat. They aren’t perfect, and we all know what the holes in the lineup are. Zibanjad’s role as a new hybrid scoring/shutdown center is a critical aspect to their success, and focusing on one aspect of his game without taking his full role and impact on the team as a whole is misguided at best.
It’s all connected.
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