mika zibanejad

It’s been an interesting start to the season, hasn’t it? Jeff Gorton and Alain Vigneault have toyed with our emotions, albeit inadvertently, with their roster decisions. The team has toyed with our emotions by scoring a ton, not scoring ever, and playing a combination of great defense and Swiss cheese defense. All in all, it’s been one of the more entertaining starts to the season since the 2013-2014 season. You know, the one where Tomas Hertl deked Martin Biron into retirement.

The main positive that has been the focus of attention has been Mika Zibanejad. With five goals this season, Zibanejad has opened this season the way he did last year before breaking his leg. He’s seemed to have found a home in the Ovi spot on the powerplay, and with Kevin Shattenkirk feeding him one-timers, he’s poised for a big year.

The only problem is that Zibanejad is the only person scoring, accounting for half of the Rangers goals thus far in this young season. Simply put, the other players that the Rangers have been counting on to score need to start putting pucks in the net.

The KZB line has been phenomenal, Mats Zuccarello has four points, and JT Miller has three. However outside of that, the scoring has run dry. Kevin Hayes and Michael Grabner have just one assist, and haven’t been overly impressive yet. Rick Nash has been a force, but remains scoreless this season. Jimmy Vesey is certainly not off to the start he had last year, either, joining Nash on the scoreless train.

Now this won’t last all season, but when only one line/player is scoring, the Rangers are going to be pretty easy to beat. The problem doesn’t get easier either, as the schedule toughens up for the rest of the month, with games against six teams with realistic playoff hopes coming up.

What? You thought all the focus would be on Alain Vigneault?

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