Mika Zibanejad not hung up on his role with Rangers
Mika Zibanejad and J.T. Miller are pleased at the prospect of being New York Rangers linemates again. The question of who plays which position doesn’t seem to matter to either of them.
Zibanejad, a lifelong center, was having a poor season before the Rangers acquired Miller from the Vancouver Canucks on Jan. 31. Then-coach Peter Laviolette moved Zibanejad to right wing on a line with Miller in the middle, and the combo clicked. Zibanejad had 29 points (nine goals, 20 assists) through his first 50 games, then put up 33 (11 goals, 22 assists) in the final 32 games after the trade. They produced a 52.14 percent xGF across 259:15 of 5-on-5 ice time together, according to Natural Stat Trick.
But Zibanejad said Thursday at Rangers training camp in Tarrytown, New York, that neither he nor Miller is hung up about who plays which position.
“I’d say I play more forward than wing or center,” Zibanejad said when asked about lining up at right wing, adding that each takes face-offs on his strong sides and take different responsibilities depending on situations.
Miller, named the 29th captain in Rangers history on Tuesday, agreed that he and Zibanejad “think the game in a very similar way,” and are basically interchangeable.
“We’re the same age, came in around the same time,” he said. “We don’t have to talk to each other much because we just kind of have an idea. It’s basically like we’re not teaching each other, it’s more like ‘hey, going there’ and it’s just a good chemistry. I don’t think we look at it as center and wing – we talked about this at breakfast, and we’re playing forward right now. That makes our lives easier.”
One of new coach Mike Sullivan’s first decisions was opting to keep Zibanejad and Miller together, at least at the start of camp.
“In my conversations with Mika during the offseason, he expressed to me the chemistry he felt he built with J.T.,” Sullivan said Wednesday. “J.T. expressed the same thing. I think these guys are important guys for our team, so common sense would suggest maybe that we start there and see if that’s the best interest of the group.”
Zibanejad said he and Miller had instant chemistry when they were put on the same line.
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“Just look at the games we played together,” he said. “I think we’re similar. We think similar. We have different attributes, obviously, but we think the game alike. We talk a lot on the bench as well. With new linemates, sometimes it clicks right away; sometimes it takes a while to develop chemistry, and the time hasn’t always been there. But I feel like as soon as I got to play with him, I felt like it clicked right away. I thought it was a good start last year, and hopefully we can build on that.”
Miller agreed that the two are on the same wavelength, even on their first day on the ice under Sullivan.
“In a little scrimmage today, we must have switched seamlessly at center and wing 5-6 times,” he said. “Little things like that. It’s super comforting.”
Mika Zibanejad sorry to see longtime linemate Chris Kreider leave
Zibanejad and Miller played together at practice Thursday with Adam Edstrom on left wing. That’s because Chris Kreider, who played left wing with the two 32-year-olds last season, was traded to the Anaheim Ducks on June 12.
For Zibanejad, losing someone who had been a teammate since he came to the Rangers in a trade with the Ottawa Senators on July 18, 2016, wasn’t unexpected – but it wasn’t easy.
“I felt like it was coming,” he said. “It wasn’t out of the blue, so I’m not going to stand here and lie and say, ‘It’s part of the business.’ Obviously, it was tough. It’s an adjustment time.
“But I think as a human being, I’m not going to push those feelings away. I think I just accept that. Accept that it’s my longest linemate, longest teammate I’ve had in my career. It’s one of my best friends. It’s weird not to see him come through these doors. For the first few weeks, kind of waiting for him to come (laugh). I’m happy as long as he’s happy. Just because we’re not teammates anymore doesn’t mean we’re not friends.”
One big offseason positive for Zibanejad was a visit from Sullivan, whose efforts to build relationships with the players on his new team included a trip to Stockholm.
Zibanejad said Sullivan’s coming to see him “meant a lot — not knowing him from the past, only playing against him for the past 10 years, but not knowing him personally. So for him to come all the way to Sweden, really, for the day, was highly appreciated [by] me and obviously my family, as well.
“It was a nice gesture and a nice start to the season.”
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So what is Zibanejad’s mindset entering 2025-26 after he and his team struggled last season?
“Reset … I put in the time this summer going into (the 15th season of his NHL career). Calm,” he said. “Just try to think less, honestly. Just go out and play, and just trust the process every day, from practice to preseason games to the games and every day in the season.
“I don’t think worrying about the future, worrying about what’s happening or what’s happened.”
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