Outside of the defense, the main sore point for many Ranger fans this season will be Mika Zibanejad. He’s off to an ok start to the season with 10 points in 11 games, including 6 at 5v5. He’s producing offensive numbers, but there’s something missing. It’s hard to quantify what’s missing, but we do know Zibanejad is shooting less over the last coupe of seasons, and perhaps that’s one input into his play failing to meet fan expectations.
To be clear, Zibanejad shooting less could be one input into some of his struggles. There isn’t one specific solution or reason for why he seems to have taken a step back. Especially since he put up 72 points last year and is on pace for 80 points this year.
Zibanejad has never been a major puck possession or play driver, so while we want more from him there, it’s never really been his game. He’s fluctuated in effectiveness, remaining mostly near league average in this regard. Not terrible, but not great either. So those wanting more from this area are justified, but it’s never been a realistic ask.
We’ve also discussed how his role is changing, as Zibanejad has been getting lined up against the opposition’s best for quite some time now. This coincided with last season and Peter Laviolette’s arrival in New York, finally assigning roles to lines instead of just blindly rolling in a 1-2-3-4 or 1-2-3-1-2-3-4 rotation.
A side effect of the new role is that Zibanejad is shooting less. His career year in 2022-2023, where Zibanejad scored 39 goals and 91 points, Zibanejad had 251 shots on goal. Last season, his first under Laviolette as his role evolved, that dropped to 221. This season, he has 22 shots in 11 games, on pace for 164 shots. Zibanejad is shooting less this year, and it’s a stark contrast to years past.
That 164 shots on goal would be Zibanejad’s lowest since 2014-2015. As a guy who is leaned on to shoot more, especially on the powerplay, this may be another key contributor to why we are seeing a decline in his play. Though since Zibanejad is shooting less, Artemi Panarin is shooting more. It’s a give and take, at least when they are on the ice together.
There is no quick solution to this either. Laviolette flipping the lines may help, especially since Panarin can be pass happy at times. Though Zibanejad is shooting less, far less this season, there’s no real reason to panic after just 11 games. It’s a problem for sure, but the barometer for us has been the Black Friday game, so we have time to see improvement. Perhaps simply encouraging him to fire away is all he needs.