To truly understand Mika Zibanejad’s 2021 report card, we have to break it down into pre-COVID recovery and post-COVID recovery. Because let’s be real, there were two different versions of Mika Zibanejad this season. Zibanejad certainly didn’t put up the numbers he did last season, but that was never a realistic ask either. He did, however, show that when he’s himself, he’s a top scoring threat in the league.
Not necessarily in a contract year, but playing to see if the Rangers should give him a new contract at some point, Zibanejad was worse than invisible to start the season.