As Mika Zibanejad tries to take the reins as the Rangers’ No. 1 center, he has worked on his mindset, on how to be more engaging and open in his competitiveness on a nightly basis.
It’s what the Blueshirts need to fill their void down the middle, and it’s exactly what Zibanejad wants to bring once camp opens with the first off-ice testing Thursday.
“It’s obviously going to be nerve-racking, and it’s a situation I’ve never been in before, so it’s something that you’ve been looking forward to, and want to be able to take the next step,” Zibanejad said after he was part of a group of mostly veterans that skated at the team’s Westchester practice facility Monday. “Nothing happens overnight or whatever, but I think [I will] get time to get used to it during training camp, to be ‘that guy,’ or whatever. Then, going into the season, I’ll come in looking forward to it.”
The 24-year-old Swede just signed a five-year, $26.75 million deal — carrying an annual $5.35 million salary-cap hit — before reaching arbitration this summer as a restricted free agent. With the draft-day trade of presumptive No. 1 pivot Derek Stepan to the Coyotes, that top spot and increased salary are what weighs on Zibanejad.
In his short time since coming to the Rangers in a trade with the Senators before last season — the one that sent Derick Brassard to Ottawa — it has become clear Zibanejad is a thoughtful person and player, and at times he can get inside his own head.
That was never more apparent than when he struggled to rediscover his game after returning from an almost two-month absence following a broken leg suffered Nov. 20.
He was hurt while going back hard to defend his net in the overtime period of a game against the Panthers and the injury stuck with him both in the strength of his legs and the way he approached those types of situations afterward.
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“Obviously it was a little bit in the back of my mind,” he said, having put up five goals and 10 points in the first 19 games before the injury and just nine goals and 13 points in the 37 games after he returned Jan. 17. “It wasn’t an excuse or anything like that, but I think it took longer than I expected it would take [to forget the injury]. They kind of warned me about that, it’s going to kind of linger around for that time. And obviously, I think the biggest thing of that injury was the way it happened.
“I want to be aggressive, I want to be a physical player, then that happens during a play like that, you start a little bit second-guessing yourself in situations when you come to a corner and you don’t really have control of yourself. That’s another part of the mental aspect, where you kind of backed up a little bit and slowed it down.”
To help him get his mental game back on track, Zibanejad spent some time this summer working with a person he called “a shrink guy.” He knows he can’t let the bad times snowball, and he wants to talk about it right away when they happen —
even having a conversation with good pal Mats Zuccarello on Monday to begin a more open line of communication.
“When things go bad, that’s when you bring it up. And that’s maybe too late at that point,” Zibanejad said of his previous struggles. “I know what the problem is, but for me, it’s just a mindset and having a little bit of discussion with the people close to me. Even talked a little bit to Zucc today, and I think it’s just — not a confidence thing — but if something doesn’t go my way right away that I just keep sticking to it.”