New York Rangers Send a Strong Message to Mika Zibanejad After Poor Start to the Season
The New York Rangers have been the worst team in the NHL over the last month, and now they've handed down a major demotion to one of their top stars.
After a strong start to the season, the New York Rangers are simply falling apart, with the team dropping 14 of their past 18 games as they've fallen to last place in the Metropolitan Division with frustration reaching a boiling point in their locker room.
While Zibanejad has a solid 21 points in 35 games played this season, he's got a dreadful -21 differential on the year, and with no points in his last seven games, it's clear that he, along with the rest of the veteran core has officially checked out.
Now, after weeks of speculation that a potential move could be made, Peter Laviolette has officially made the first change to their lineup, with veteran Mika Zibanejad officially demoted.
According to reports at Rangers practice, the team have changed up their top powerplay, opting for the group of Panarin-Kreider-Fox-Lafreniere-Trocheck instead of keeping No. 93 there as well.
Given the way he's played as of late, this is the right move for Laviolette, as Zibanejad has seemed uninterested on the ice at times, and with a lack of effort on both ends of the ice, it's certainly a long time coming for Zibanejad, with Chris Kreider saying this about the team's recent powerplay output.
Ultimately, one simple move like this isn't going to be enough for this team to turn their season around, but if their powerplay can at least provide a spark, it's could be a good way to get the team rolling again as there's still belief in the organization that this talent can get back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
