It’s Mika Zibanejad’s first season with the New York Rangers. He’s off to an excellent start, too: two goals, six assists, eight points in just nine games. He’s tied for second in team scoring.
So there’s a lot to like about his acquisition.
But he did have a team before the Rangers: the Ottawa Senators, who drafted him sixth overall in 2011. He played 281 games for them; Craig Anderson was Ottawa’s starting goalie for many of them.
Anderson, whose wife Nicholle was recently diagnosed with cancer.
The NHL season always starts off with Hockey Fights Cancer campaigns, and Zibanejad’s message becomes that much more poignant.