Rangers vs. Senators: Celebrating Mika and Nothing Else
Mika’s 1,000th game deserved better—but a no-show effort and nine total shots summed up another brutal night.
- Over the last thirty-plus years the New York Rangers have made a host of terrible, awful, no good, very bad trades. There's not enough time to go through them all, but the four that stand out as the worst to me are:
- Sergei Zubov and Petr Nedved to the Pittsburgh Penguins for the ghost of Luc Robitialle and Ulf Samuelsson
- Mattias Norstrom, Ray Ferraro, Nathan LaFayette, Ian Laperriere, and a fourth round pick in the 1997 draft to the Los Angeles Kings for Shane Churla, Marty McSorely, and Jari Kurri
- Pavel Buchnevich to the St. Louis Blues for Sammy Blais and a second round pick
- Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Vladislav Namenstikov, Brett Howden, Libor Hajek, and a first round pick
- However, there have been times where the Rangers have actually gotten it right. Jeff Gorton took a lot of heat when he traded a 28-year-old Derick Brassard for a second round pick and a disappointing former first rounder named Mika Zibanejad. Look, I realize that Mika has had a couple of down seasons that have tainted the way some fans look at him, but any objective analysis of Mika Zibanejad has him as easily one of the best players that the Rangers have acquired over the last three decades. One of the greatest "what if's" in New York sports has to be what would have happened if the 2019-20 season had not been cut short by the COVID-19. Mika had 75 points (41 goals) in 57 games that season. He was ridiculous.
- Mika has had a few rough seasons since signing his contract extension, but this season has been a huge bounce-back for him. He's played the game with speed, physicality, and passion. It's reminded many of us why the Rangers gave him that contract in the first place.
- Last night, the New York Rangers celebrated Mika's 1,000th NHL game. Interestingly enough, by virtue of being scratched in an earlier game for being late to a practice, Mika's 1,000th game came against the team that originally drafted him, the Ottawa Senators. Weird how the universe works.
- Anyway, the Rangers did a great job honoring the accomplishment. Then, unfortunately, they went on to play a game where the Rangers proceeded to shit all over the ice like a Great Dane that had gotten into the Easter chocolates.
