Mika Zibanejad’s five-year, $26.75 million deal agreed upon Tuesday, which will cost the Rangers an annual cap charge of $5.35 million, represents the fair-market going rate for a developing 24-year-old center.
Now it is on Zibanejad — who avoided arbitration by reaching a contract agreement with general manager Jeff Gorton in Toronto on Tuesday morning as the hearing stopped to allow for negotiations — to develop into the reliable first-line center the Blueshirts so desperately need him to become this season.
“It’s something I was hoping would happen,” Zibanejad said on a conference call. “I’m so happy the deal was done. I love playing in New York. I’m so excited to be staying for the next five years.”
Unless an unforeseen trade develops to fill the void created by Derek Stepan’s trade to Arizona, the Blueshirts will require their centers to elevate in order to fill ripple-effect responsibilities with which they have never before been entrusted.
Zibanejad will be counted on to be a first-liner and assume those attendant matchup burdens after three years as a No. 2 that followed a couple of years in Ottawa as a third-liner; Kevin Hayes will become the No. 2 after spending the first three years of his career as the Rangers’ No. 3; Lias Andersson, the club’s seventh-overall draft selection out of Sweden, will try to make the NHL as an 18-year-old rookie in his first year in North America.
And David Desharnais, the free-agent signee who will turn 31 in camp, seemingly more suited as a fourth-liner but perhaps forced up into a third-line slot, will attempt to revive his career following a washout 2016-17 split between Montreal and Edmonton.
“When Derek was traded, it was a little bit of an alert to me that I might have a chance at a bigger role,” Zibanejad said. “As a player you always want more responsibility and a bigger role.”
There will be inherent pressure on Zibanejad, who showed flashes of excellence dotted by stretches of inferior play in his first season on Broadway — disrupted by a broken fibula that sidelined him for just under two months — to become consistently dependable. They will need him to engage more effectively on the forecheck.
Zibanejad has a superior shot and excellent playmaking skills. He can skate. A right-hand shot with a quick release, he should benefit off the power play one-timer from the left circle with Kevin Shattenkirk presumably running the show from the right point.
“I always want to improve, be better, and take myself to the next level,” Zibanejad said. “I don’t think there’s a guy out there who would say no to an opportunity like this. I’m working to prepare myself.”
The Swedish-born, 6-foot-2, 215-pounder whom the Rangers acquired from Ottawa last July with a second rounder in exchange for Derick Brassard, recorded 37 points with 14 goals in 56 games during the regular season before leading the club with nine points in the playoffs.
He had started the season well, but went into a slide that he just was beginning to come out of when he broke his leg crashing into the rear-boards at the Garden on Nov. 20, 41 seconds into overtime against the Panthers.
Zibanejad scored twice upon his Jan. 17 return against Dallas after missing 25 games, but then went the next 36 matches without a five-on-five goal, scoring twice in three-on-three overtime and four times on the power play.
As it currently stands, Zibanejad projects to skate between Chris Kreider and either Mats Zuccarello or Pavel Buchnevich on the first line while Hayes is likely to center Rick Nash and J.T. Miller. The Kreider-Zibanejad-Zuccarello unit was intact for 279 minutes at five-on-five last season, per datarink.com.
“I obviously was sad to see Antti and Derek go,” Zibanejad said of backup goaltender Antti Raanta and Stepan, both of whom went to the Coyotes. “I’m happy we added Shattenkirk.
“I think as a group we were disappointed how the season ended. We felt like we could have gone further. I’m really excited about our team and the chance to do better.”
The Blueshirts are projected to start the season with just $445,556 of cap space if they carry eight defensemen (including Alexei Bereglazov) and 14 forwards (including Andersson and Boo Nieves with Jesper Fast on IR). The Rangers are expected to attempt to deal defenseman Nick Holden ($1.65 million) in order to bulk up in the middle, if possible.
They also have until Thursday to buy out Marc Staal if they choose to go that route. A buyout of the 30-year-old veteran would clear $3.567 million of space for 2017-18, but the Rangers correspondingly would be obligated to a carry considerable amount of dead space for the next eight seasons.