Mika Zibanejad is about to begin his 11th season with the Rangers, and no one else on the roster has seen this franchise change shape the way he has. He’s outlasted one contention run, lived through the rebuild, watched the team climb back into the picture, and now sits at the center of yet another reset. Through all of it, he’s been the steady hand.
He arrived before the 2016-17 season in the trade with the Ottawa Senators that sent Derrick Brassard the other way. The Rangers were trying to get younger, and Zibanejad came in at 23 with plenty to prove.
That first season brought a trip to the second round of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs, where the Senators knocked them out in six games. The next year went sideways fast, and by February the team was slipping out of the race.
That was when “The Letter” landed with the fanbase, laying out management’s plan to get younger and stockpile prospects. The move meant shipping out names like Rick Nash, J.T.
Miller, and captain Ryan McDonagh. Zibanejad, though, was treated as part of the foundation.
Even as the roster got stripped down, he kept developing into the number one center the Rangers had hoped for. Henrik Lundqvist, meanwhile, was still willing to stay even as that contention window closed.
The rebuild stretched on for years, but the Rangers’ direction changed again in the summer of 2019 with the signing of Artemi Panarin and the selections of Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafreniere in back-to-back drafts. Zibanejad’s rise fit right into that new push.
In 2019-20, he played only 57 games because of injury and the COVID-19 shutdown, yet still piled up 41 goals and 75 points. That was the breakout that confirmed what the Rangers already suspected: he was a true No. 1 center.
From there, the Rangers were back in the mix. The 2021-22 season brought their first playoff appearance in five years and a run to the Eastern Conference Final, where they lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games. In 2022-23, the front office added Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko within weeks of each other, but the season ended with a first-round loss to the New Jersey Devils in seven games.
Then came the high point of the recent run. In 2023-24, the Rangers won the Presidents’ Trophy and reached the Eastern Conference Final again, only to fall to the Florida Panthers in six games.
For a while, it looked like this group might stay in the contender class for the long haul. Instead, one offseason changed everything.
The shift began in 2024, when the Rangers parted ways with Barclay Goodrow via waivers and tried to move captain Jacob Trouba, who blocked the deal. The veterans saw it as an overreaction from general manager Chris Drury. New York opened the next season 12-6-1, but the slide that followed forced more turnover.
Trouba was eventually traded in December 2024. Not long after, Kakko went to the Seattle Kraken and Filip Chytil was dealt to the Vancouver Canucks in the move that brought Miller back to New York.
In the 2025 offseason, Kreider and K’Andre Miller were moved as well. Through every wave of change, Zibanejad stayed put while teammates kept leaving.
Last season was supposed to be a playoff push, but it turned into another disappointment. Panarin was traded mid-season as the retool got underway, and Vincent Trocheck was dealt this past offseason.
Drury has kept trying to reshape the roster for this season, but the Rangers still have to prove it on the ice. Zibanejad did his part in 2025-26, bouncing back with 34 goals and 78 points on a team that struggled to score.
Once again, he was the constant.
So much has changed around him over 11 seasons in New York. The faces have turned over, the team’s direction has swung back and forth, and the pressure has never really gone away. Zibanejad has said he wants to stay and try to win here, and for now he stands as the last of the old guard - still a Ranger, still the one piece that has survived every version of this franchise.
In Other News...
Rangers Gave Fans Real Reason To Feel Good Before Bruins Opener
A strong night against the Islanders gave the Rangers a little preseason momentum as they headed toward the Boston Bruins and the start of games that count. New York jumped early and kept pouring it on in a 6-1 win, with Oliver Bjorkstrand, J.T. Miller, Tye Kartye, Will Cuylle and Mika Zibanejad all getting on the scoresheet while Adam Fox set the tone with three assists.
For a team trying to build some early confidence, it was the kind of performance that checked a lot of boxes without asking the staff to read too much into the result. The Rangers have now strung together two straight preseason wins, and after the offensive showing on Long Island, they have at least given their fans a reason to feel better about where things stand before the opener in Boston. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Still Have One Roster Decision Hanging Before Opening Night
The preseason ended on a high note for the Rangers, who rolled past the Islanders 6-1 with a lineup that looked awfully close to what they expect to roll out on opening night. Even with the win serving as a tidy finishing touch, the final roster remains unfinished, with two spots still open as the club heads into the last stretch before the regular season begins.
What makes the wait interesting is the shape of the roster itself. New York has already trimmed its camp group and is still staring at a shortage of clear center options, which has fueled the idea that the answer could come from outside the organization. The waiver wire is part of the conversation now, and the next move may say as much about the teams depth concerns as the preseason finale did about its top-end readiness. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Face One Season-Defining Question Heading Into 2026-27
The Rangers head toward 2026-27 with a much cleaner-looking backbone than they have had in recent seasons. Between Adam Fox, Vlad Gavrikov and Igor Shesterkin, the club has the kind of defensive and goaltending structure that can keep games manageable, and that is usually the starting point for any team trying to steady itself in the East.
Still, the real question is whether the rest of the roster can do enough to turn that stability into wins. New Yorks season could swing quickly depending on health and the growth of its younger forwards, with the gap between a playoff berth and a frustrating year likely resting on whether the offense finds enough consistency to support the pieces already in place. [Read more 🡒]