Colin Stephenson: Rangers' Mika Zibanejad completes remarkable turnaround season with team MVP award
The Rangers' Mika Zibanejad shoots the puck in third period against the Senators at Madison Square Garden on March 23, 2026. Credit: Jim McIsaac
There were were many Rangers fans who wanted Mika Zibanejad shipped out of town a year ago as he struggled through a miserable season. But even as general manager Chris Drury tried to remake the roster during the season, in an ultimately futile effort to try and get the team into the playoffs, the full no-move clause in Zibanejad’s contract meant he wasn’t going anywhere.
That turned out to be a good thing.
The 32-year-old Zibanejad came back in a big way.
On Wednesday, as the Rangers closed out their second straight non-playoff season in Tampa, the team announced that he had been chosen by the New York media as the team’s Most Valuable Player, and voted by his teammates as the Players’ Player.
The double announcement came two weeks after Zibanejad was named winner of the Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award by the McDonald family, perhaps the most meaningful team award presented to an individual every season.
“I think just the meaning of the award, the McDonald family and everyone, speaks a lot about what the city, what the organization, what everyone around here thinks about that family, and what the award means,’’ Zibanejad said on March 31 of receiving the McDonald Award. It honors the late former NYC police officer Steven McDonald, a Rangers fan who was shot in the line of duty in 1986 and was left paralyzed. He died in 2017. “I’m very humbled to receive that.’’
Zibanejad can now be considered one of the greatest in franchise history and likely will have his No. 93 retired someday.
He was the runaway winner for the MVP award, leading the team in scoring with 78 points (34 goals, 44 assists) after his goal and assist Wednesday in the Rangers’ 4-2 win over the Lightning.
While major injuries to goaltender Igor Shesterkin and defenseman Adam Fox, as well as captain J.T. Miller and Vincent Trocheck, essentially torpedoed the Rangers’ season, Zibanejad’s consistent two-way play gave the team a chance to compete every night.
In a season with few highlights, Zibanejad became the first player to record a hat trick in an NHL Winter Classic, when he scored three goals and added two assists in the Rangers’ 5-1 win over the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. That performance came on the day he was named to the Swedish Olympic team, and briefly gave the Rangers hope they might be able to get back in the playoff hunt. His five points that day set a record for an outdoor game.
On Jan. 17, a day after Drury announced the Rangers would enter a “retool,’’ Zibanejad became the franchise leader in power-play goals when he scored his 117th as a Blueshirt against the Flyers (his PPG on Wednesday was his 124th), passing his pal Chris Kreider and Camille Henry, who had shared the record.
During the season he passed Mark Messier, Henry, Vic Hadfield, Andy Bathgate and Adam Graves to rise to fourth on the Rangers’ list for goals with 284. He played in his 1,000th NHL game on March 23 at the Garden, coincidentally against his first NHL team, the Ottawa Senators, who drafted him with the sixth overall pick in the 2011 draft.
“It’s been very special,’’ he said that night. “I never thought I was going to play in the NHL, let alone play 1,000 games. So to be here now is a cool achievement, for sure.’’
No one really knew what to expect when he started the season playing right wing on Miller’s line, but when injuries to Miller caused him to miss games and hampered him when he did play, Zibanejad picked up some of the slack.
He picked up more slack after Artemi Panarin was traded just before the Olympic break, and finished the season as the center on the Rangers’ most dynamic line, playing between Alexis Lafreniere and rookie Gabe Perreault. Both of those wingers seem to be benefiting from playing with him.
“I think he takes responsibility for helping some of the younger guys, and I think he’s been a great mentor for both of those guys,’’ coach Mike Sullivan said of Zibanejad before the Rangers went on their season-ending three-game road trip last week. “He’s very encouraging, but he’s also demanding. And he wants those guys to stay hungry and to continue to work and understand why they have success.’’
A year after some wanted him gone, Zibanejad has done all he could to make fans happy he stayed.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
