Burning Rangers questions for 2025-26: Should Mika Zibanejad play wing or center?

New York Times

a day ago

The bigger questions surrounding Mika Zibanejad's position aren't that different from those in the first installment of this offseason mini-series, which explored whether the Rangers should play Vladislav Gavrikov and Adam Fox together. Does new coach Mike Sullivan want to load up the top of his lineup, at the expense of depth? Or would it be best to balance things out?
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The 32-year-old Zibanejad is coming off a difficult season. His 62 points were his lowest in a full campaign since 2017-18, and his 20 goals were his fewest since 2016-17, his first in New York. Zibanejad has been a force on the power play during his time with the Rangers — he's only eight goals shy of Camille Henry and Chris Kreider for the team record of 116 — but he got demoted to the second unit on multiple occasions in 2024-25.
'I know this wasn't the season that I wanted,' Zibanejad said on locker cleanout day in April. 'That's on me. I have some months here now to make sure I take advantage of and get ready for next season.'
Getting Zibanejad back on track is vital for the Rangers, and he showed signs of turning a corner the second half of the season, especially after the Rangers acquired J.T. Miller from Vancouver. The Rangers played Zibanejad on Miller's wing for significant minutes, moving him away from his traditional center slot, and he responded with 11 goals and 33 points in 32 games after the acquisition.
'I thought he played better (on the wing),' said an NHL scout based in the East. 'Obviously when it comes to team needs, having him on a wing may have been a luxury at certain points because center is just so valuable. But I thought him and Miller's chemistry was good. … Once they made that trade for Miller it maybe injected a little bit of life into him.'
One Eastern Conference executive said that the Rangers at times looked like 'a completely disengaged team' during the 2024-25 season. But with Miller, he said, 'You're not going to be disengaged with that f—ing guy in your lineup.'
Miller and Zibanejad played 259 five-on-five minutes together, according to Natural Stat Trick. The Rangers outscored opponents 14-12 in those minutes and commanded 52.14 percent of the expected goal share. Without each other, both players' expected goal rates dipped below 50 percent after the trade: Miller at 37.98 percent in 166 minutes and Zibanejad at 47.47 percent in 179 minutes.
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Based on last year's results, Zibanejad playing on Miller's wing makes sense — not just to potentially get Zibanejad out of his funk, but also to help Miller, whose numbers dipped away from the Swede.
'It probably gives them their best top six with Zibanejad on the wing for right now,' one Western Conference executive said.
'Having to skate less and have to be less defensively responsible, I feel like that gives (Zibanejad) a little bit more jump where he can focus a little bit more on his game, making plays, creating offense,' the Eastern-based scout added. 'Maybe not having to do as much skating as you do when you're playing center might've been a little bit of a boost for him.'
If Sullivan goes that route, he could put Will Cuylle on their line and then keep Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafrenière together. He could also put Panarin with Miller and Zibanejad when in need of offense in late-game situations: the Rangers had 59.91 percent of the expected goal share with that trio on the ice in 62 five-on-five minutes last season.
All of that sounds appealing, but it comes with a tradeoff. If those six forwards make up the top two lines, the third line would necessarily have Sam Carrick, Jonny Brodzinski or Juuso Pärssinen at center, likely with Taylor Raddysh and a younger winger — maybe Brett Berard, Gabe Perreault or Brennan Othmann — or perhaps veteran Conor Sheary, who is attending camp on a professional tryout. Barring a big jump from one of the less-experienced players, that does not feel like a contending third line.
The alternative would be putting Zibanejad at center and having him, Miller, Trocheck and Carrick up the middle. That's a solid center group but leaves the team lighter on the wing.
The best-case scenario for the Rangers is that the 24-year-old Pärssinen, acquired from the Avalanche in the Ryan Lindgren trade last deadline, develops into a capable third-line center. But that's a lot to ask for a player who has never played more than 48 games in an NHL season. He was a frequent healthy scratch under then-coach Peter Laviolette after the deadline, though he had multi-point games in two of the season's final three games.
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'(Playing 3C) has been the expectation of him really probably going into the last two training camps,' the Western Conference exec said of Pärssinen. 'He's sort of been that 4C with 3C upside, and he's only 24. The last two years it was a little bit of a younger age. He's definitely coming into the age now that he's going to want to push himself to be that.'
Pärssinen's best stretch of play came with Nashville in 2022-23, his rookie year. He got an extended run centering Filip Forsberg and had 20 points in his final 29 games of the year.
That success did not continue when the Predators brought in Andrew Brunette as coach ahead of the next season, leading Nashville to trade him to Colorado in the middle of 2024-25. After 22 games with the Avalanche, he was flipped again.
'He kind of fell off for me,' one NHL scout based in the West said. 'I don't know if he just didn't know his role or what he could be or the skill set he would apply to a game. Seeing him after he got moved around, he wasn't the same player. If they can get back a little bit of what he was, I liked him early in his career in Nashville.'
If Sullivan keeps Zibanejad on the wing and wants to give Pärssinen or another 3C option a boost, he could consider moving Cuylle to the third line and playing a high-skill youngster like Perreault in the top six.
'That's all part of the process: trying the different combinations and things,' the Eastern-based scout said. 'They can balance their lineup or they can push all their chips up top and rely on those top guys more.'
And Zibanejad is perhaps the player who will most affect whatever Sullivan chooses.
(Top photo of Mika Zibanejad: Joel Auerbach / Getty Images)
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