Meh. Good for three years, but is gonna fall off after that. To me, this contract either just put a limit on their window or is gonna force a pause in the middle of it. Zib relies 100% on offense. He isn't very good on defense, is average in puck entries/exits, loses a lot of puck battles, etc. He is a one-trick pony with his fantastic shooting, but offense usually falls off in early-mid thirties. So this could be a problem in a few years.

This also just declared Zib as the first line center for the next at least 5 years. I'm not even sure I like him as #1 now and definitely won't then. Could do better, and have had the opportunity to.

Not a fan of the term. The AAV is about what he's worth now. He's just going to get worse as the years go on, so I can see this coming back to haunt the Rangers in years 3-4+.

Good deal, Zib is a solid 1c

Glad we got him signed, but that term is too long IMO ... I'm not gonna vote yes or no.

I would consider 8.5 reasonable for 3 or 4 years as he is already 28. He has likely peaked production wise, or will this year, so to have 4 years at this salary as he declines is far too much, and will bite them when they are finally able to compete as one of the better teams which they should be doing with all their good young players/prospects they have.

Barkov taking 10 in Florida to resign does not define the market. Ignoring any tax implications there was no multiple bidders.

If zib puts up another 40 g point per game season and is signing for term in his 20s I think he gets 9-10.5 for term. Perhaps only 6-7 years

I get how the age is an issue, but there's no NMC and it is all base salary, so it can be bought out. It's a win for the NYRs in my book.

There's no NMC or those details just aren't out yet?

It's unconfirmed yet according to site so the details are subject to change. I'm very surprised if there's no NMC included.

Major L for Ottawa, considering they traded this guy for Derick Brassard and added a second on top.

The cap hit isn’t the reason they didn’t trade for him, they said it’s because Zib is better than Eichel

How is this anything less than a great value contract? Compare this contract to Tavares, Seguin, Backstrom, Hayes, Duchene, and Johansen. I'd take Mika over all of them. By far. Will this contract be problematic in 5-6 years? Maybe. But, he's a goal scoring machine now. And he will be when the Rangers are Cup contenders in a couple years. A+ contract.

Agreed. But, that's what it takes to sign a #1 C these days. Take a look at the comps I mentioned above. This is a great value contract. Mika is far more productive than several big names making even more money for he same term.

I noticed no one has mentioned the Leafs here so I will.

Maple leafs.

There now it's a complete post.

Today sure. But Backstrom and Tavares and potentially Seguin were ahead of Mika at 25-27

And what were they supposed to say? Our guy isn't as good but we don't want to give up assets for the better player so guess we'll make do? lol

People put way too much thought into what GMs say about their own players..

yikes.

No. He used to be really good, but I have no idea by what metric except raw stats inflated by the Rangers having literally like 3 other players he's done anything useful in the last few years by. His defensive metrics have gone from good to abysmal, and his scoring as I said is a product of opportunity. He doesn't score above expectation for an average player in his minutes, he scores above average because he gets minutes and pp-time.

I love Mika, he played for my favorite team in Sweden, I think he's a super cool dude, I like the Rangers.

He's just not very good at this point in his career.

Years 1-3: No worries
Years 4-5: slight concern
Years 6-8: bad contract

Not for nothing, but over the last 3 years....

195 GP / 199 PTS
166 GP / 178 PTS

^over an 82 game season your talking about a difference of 4pts based on each guys PGP. One guy makes $10 million and would have coat trade players. The other is going to make $8.5 and cost you no additional assets to acquire.

8x8.5m > 6x10.5m or 7x9.5m

8 x 8.5 is 68 in 8 years
6 x 10.5 is 63 in 6 years

Ignoring that he has two more years to earn the 2.5 per year, time value of money would emphasize getting the money earlier is more valuable as you can make it work for you...

(Same concept with 7*9.5 which is 66.5)

Dude in the last two years he's 12th in points and 6th in goals in the NHL. That isn't just getting a lot of minutes.

Source by the way http://www.nhl.com/stats/skaters?reportType=season&seasonFrom=20192020&seasonTo=20202021&gameType=2&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,1&sort=goals&page=0&pageSize=50

If you prefer his scoring in per minute stats he's 22nd in pts/60 and tied for 21st in goals per 60.

So even by minutes he'd be the best on 1 out of 3 teams in the league...

Meh. He's worth it rn but by year 4 it'll probably be an overpay. Kinda had to do it though

Yeah maybe I was a bit unclear. It's not minutes as in raw amounts, but minutes as in zone time and/or playing with really good players vs meh opposition. What we should care about is what an average player does between his linemates, vs his opposition and in his minutes. By those metrics, Mika produces 15% less than expected.

What I will say is that his shot maps are... Weird.

For some reason the net-front is really acting out in both directions. I know the Rangers specifically had some issues with counting shot distance and whatnot, but at the same time it's very high in his own direction.



These are not stats of a #1C, or even a top6 player. More like a bottom 6-player on PP1.

Edit: Did some more digging and maybe, *maybe* Hajek could be doing some of the defensive damage. The issue is that Buchnevich, Kreider etc. score better without Mika than with him.