NHL Rumors: Mika Zibanejad Done With the Rangers?

Thursday, March 26, 2026 ,
New York Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad reacts after scoring goal in 2026 game.

Mika Zibanejad recently hit a massive milestone, playing in his 1,000th career NHL game Monday night at Madison Square Garden against the Ottawa Senators, the only other team he's ever suited up for.

Now the question turns to how much longer he'll be playing in a New York Rangers jersey.

Mika Zibanejad Trade Value: What Changed This Season

Here's the thing about Zibanejad's situation heading into this summer: it looks completely different than it did 12 months ago. 

Last offseason, the market for him was soft. 

His production had slipped to 20 goals and 62 points in 2024-25, he had four years left on an $8.5 million AAV contract, and teams weren't exactly lining up. 

This year, on a brutal Rangers team, Zibanejad has 32 goals and 37 asissts for 69 points across 71 games played.

GM Chris Drury reportedly wanted to move him then, but Zibanejad wouldn't waive his full no-movement clause. Hard to blame him. New York is his home. But the trade didn't happen, and that was that. 

Fast forward to now and Zibanejad has flipped the entire narrative, posting 30 goals and 67 points in 70 games on a Rangers team that's been an absolute mess around him. 

Adam Proteau of The Hockey News flagged this dynamic after the 1,000-game ceremony, noting that a player of Zibanejad's caliber, still producing at a near point-per-game pace at 32, with 44 points in his last 43 playoff games, deserves to be on a team with a legitimate shot at the Cup. 

The Rangers, sitting at 28-35-9 with six straight losses, are not that team. They're the worst team in the NHL, other than the Vancouver Canucks.

Mika Zibanejad Rangers Future: The NMC, the Rebuild, and the Panarin Factor

The full no-movement clause stays in place until the final year of his deal in 2029-30, which means nothing happens unless Zibanejad says so. 

That was the wall last summer. But things have changed emotionally inside that locker room. Artemi Panarin, his linemate and close friend, was traded to the Los Angeles Kings earlier this season.

Drury held off at the March deadline, but the offseason is a different conversation. Zibanejad has already been through one Rangers rebuild, been to the Conference Finals twice, and helped the team win a Presidents' Trophy. 

He knows what losing feels like, and he knows what the other side feels like. 

At 32, he doesn't have unlimited runway left to chase the one thing missing from his resume. There are contenders who need a top-six center and could absorb that $8.5 million comfortably as the cap continues to climb. 

The question now is whether Zibanejad decides New York has run its course.

Over his 15-year NHL career, Zibanejad has amassed 344 goals and 807 total points across 1000 games played.

Photo Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

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