Rangers Are Stuck With Zibanejad

The New York Rangers made some solid offseason moves and 2025-26 should be a big improvement upon last season. There shouldn't be as much noise and there should also be less movement. The team has a strong veteran core, but the younger players do have to step in and step up in complementary roles.

The Rangers are at the salary cap and don't have much room for improvements or changes. One player the team has tried to move is Mika Zibanejad, especially after a rough season. David Pagnotta reported, "Zibanejad has a no-move clause, and they've explored that around the league, but he's been pretty adamant he doesn't want to move."

At a point earlier in the offseason, there were rumors that Zibanejad and the Rangers were exploring options where he could be traded to that would suit him, but those were either false or went nowhere with little to no options available.

Zibanejad isn't a bad player, but he will be in a third line center role or a winger role moving forward with Vincent Trocheck and J.T. Miller as the top two centers. Playing on the wing with Miller again could be the best thing for Zibanejad and the Rangers as he stepped up his game and a lot of responsibility, pressure, and attention was taken off of him.

Zibanejad is 32 years old and has five years left on his contract at $8.5 million AAV. That is a very difficult one to move after a season where he struggled, finishing with a team worst -22, but at the same time scoring 20 goals and recording 62 points. He was a combined +70 over the last three seasons and his point totals have dropped from 91 two seasons ago to 72 in 2023-24 to last season. He finished with his worst goals-per-game since he was a 20-year old on the Ottawa Senators in 2013-14 as well.

Zibanejad wasn't quite as effective on the power play as he normally is, but he has been pretty lethal there for a chunk of his career, especially on the Rangers. I don't think that should change as he will need that to succeed. Why his season was such a shock, defensively especially, is because he had received Selke Trophy votes in four of the previous five seasons before 2024-25. I think he can bounce back and with the cap going up, his cap hit will hurt less and less.

Photo credit: © Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images