The Rangers offseason started far sooner than many hoped and anticipated, but it got off to a decent start with the Mike Sullivan hiring. Sully changes the game for the Rangers, and though most of the focus will be on systems, it should be noted that Sully should be able to extend Mika Zibanejad’s career and usefulness, specifically at center. Zibanejad found new life as JT Miller’s winger, giving him more versatility in the lineup, but Sully has a proven track record of extending careers, even at center, and Zibanejad should benefit from Sully’s tutelage and deployment.
After a brutal start to last season, Zibanejad finally found life after the calendar turned to 2025. He finished the season with 20 goals and 62 points, which is about 10 points under his career average but also a 30 point drop off from just two seasons ago. His 6-13-19 line through the first 36 games was atrocious and was in line with the significant drop off in his play away from the puck as well. He finished the final 46 games with 14 goals and 29 goals, which was a bit less than a point per game pace.
While Zibanejad started to heat up in early January with a six game point streak to start the month, it wasn’t until February that Miller arrived and Zibanejad found new life. It wasn’t perfect, especially outside of the offensive zone, but shifting Zibanejad to Miller’s wing, with a few stints as the 3C, seemed to work well for him. That may have also aligned with Zibanejad’s rumored personal struggles off the ice finally resolving, but that’s unconfirmed.
The optimist says the end of the season and bringing Sully on board can extend Mika Zibanejad’s career. The pessimist says he can’t be salvaged. The realist, which is likely the case with Drury and Sullivan this summer, will explore trade opportunities to see how the Rangers can move forward and improve with whichever deals are on the table.
Sullivan can extend Mika Zibanejad’s career through proper usage
One skill of Sully’s that is flying under the radar is how he’s been able to extend the careers of a few players with his in-game tactics. Jeff Carter is the poster boy for this, as he went from injury plagued and aging center to productive 3C in a sheltered role with the Penguins under Sullivan. He wasn’t a star in those final years, but he stretched the Penguins’ lineup and, by simply moving Carter down in the lineup and giving him play driving wingers, Sully extracted every last ounce of hockey ability.
At that point, Carter was in his upper-30s and his career was certainly coming to an end. That’s not the case with Zibanejad, who just turned 32 and is 8 years younger than Carter. Zibanejad should have a ton of hockey left in him, and while it may sound hyperbolic to say Sully will extend Mika Zibanejad’s career, it’s about putting him in a position to succeed and extract every last ounce of hockey left in him.
Assuming the most likely scenario, that Zibanejad is still with the Rangers and is expected to be the 3C, it’s about appropriate deployment. To be direct, Zibanejad isn’t the two-way force he used to be. His defensive play has plummeted, essentially shifting his strengths from shutdown center to sheltered, scoring center. This is not how Peter Laviolette deployed Zibanejad, insisting he line up against top lines. Naturally, Zibanejad got crushed.
Instead, it’s more likely JT Miller will get top billing as the 1C, with Vincent Trocheck as the new shutdown center. Assuming Miller and Trocheck get the lion’s share of difficult minutes, it frees up Zibanejad to hopefully feast on third and fourth line talent. This is where Laviolette faltered and Sullivan excels. By simply changing up deployment, he can extend Mika Zibanejad’s career at center.
If all else fails, he can still be a winger
Again assuming the Rangers don’t trade him, then Sullivan can also extend Mika Zibanejad’s career by simply shifting him back to Miller’s wing on the top line. One common theme about NHL centers is they draw most of the defensive responsibility with back checking and defensive zone play. A shift to wing limits that responsibility and draws out Zibanejad’s strengths.
Focusing on the microstats, Zibanejad is still a solid offensive driver. He generates multiple different types of offense, he still has solid vision on the ice, and truly excels at finding high danger chances. Willingly deploying him against top competition was a borderline crime, especially with how well Florida contained him in last year’s playoffs. To extend Mika Zibanejad’s career, he either needs to shift down in the lineup or shift over to the wing.
Sully has shown a willingness to buck the big name trend and shift players down as he sees fit. But Sully has also found ways to get the most out of his “no-name” wingers, developing players like Bryan Rust, Jake Guentzel, and Conor Sheary into useful players ranging from solid to star. None of these three were can’t miss prospects and none had high draft pedigree. Granted they all played with Sidney Crosby, and JT Miller is not Crosby. The point remains that Sully did this not once, not twice, but three times. There’s reason to believe he can extend Mika Zibanejad’s career.
This offseason will be a balancing act of attempting to extend Mika Zibanejad’s career, preferably at center, while also fielding offers in an attempt to shed the Rangers of that contract while getting younger and faster. If there’s an offer that moves the Rangers in this direction, then so be it. It’s rather unlikely, so the focus should be on finding ways to extend Mika Zibanejad’s career, again preferably at center.
