SUNRISE, Fla. — Head coach Peter Laviolette has experimented with taking a struggling Mika Zibanejad off the first power-play unit mid-game before, most recently during Saturday night’s 6-2 loss at Tampa Bay.
During a fast-paced practice on Sunday, however, Zibanejad was demoted to the second unit in a rare personnel change.
Asked if he was disappointed to be taken out of a spot he’s occupied for a majority of his nine-year tenure in New York, the Swedish center was frank.
“I don’t think there’s time for that right now,” he said after the Rangers wrapped up practice, ahead of their matchup with the Panthers on Monday night. “This has nothing to do with me personally or something that I’m going to make about myself. We’re not in a place in our season to feel sorry for yourself or to be like that. It’s a different opportunity, it’s another opportunity for that unit with [Alexis Lafreniere] coming up — and deservedly so.
“Honestly, just for me, to help the unit that I’m playing on and we go from there.”
The Blueshirts power play has been a shell of itself, much like the rest of the team’s game.
Not only have they not scored once in their past 20 man-advantage opportunities over the past seven games, but their 17.9 power-play percentage was ranked 22nd in the NHL entering Sunday night’s slate of games.
Since Nov. 14, just before the 2-2 road trip out west that prompted president and general manager Chris Drury’s league-wide trade memo, the Rangers power play is 6-for-53 with a staggering four shorthanded goals against.
After scoring five times through the first five games of the season, they’ve gone 12-for-81 (14.8 percent).
Only seven teams have had fewer power-play chances than the Rangers’ 95, which is a testament to how little the team has had the puck during this abysmal 4-14 stretch.
Laviolette has finally taken action and swapped Zibanejad with Lafreniere, who joins Chris Kreider, Artemi Panarin, Adam Fox and Vincent Trocheck to make up the Rangers’ top power-play unit.
- CHECK OUT THE LATEST NHL STANDINGS AND RANGERS STATS
The second unit was then made up of Zibanejad, K’Andre Miller, Will Cuylle, Reilly Smith and Filip Chytil.
“It’s not working,” Laviolette said. “We’re working on things, we’re trying things. If eventually they’re not working, you have to move things around a little bit. I don’t know if it’s permanent or not, but right now it’s where it’s at.”
There was no conversation with the coaching staff about the demotion, according to Zibanejad, but the 31-year-old assumed it was coming given the fact that the change was made against the Lightning and the state of the power play.
Zibanejad stressed that everyone, from the decision-makers to the players, are just trying to find a way to win.
If this adjustment is going to help them win, he said, then he doesn’t mind not getting out on the ice if the new-look first unit scores.
The most logical choice for the change was Zibanejad, who has scored just one goal in the past 12 games.
His two power-play goals — and six total goals — on the season reveal just how much he has struggled offensively in all situations.
Read the expert take on the Blueshirts
Sign up for Larry Brooks’ Inside the Rangers, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.
Thank you
“It’s been up and down,” Zibanejad said of how he’d assess the power play lately. “I thought we’ve been having some good looks, but then we can’t get into the zone. … A little bit too complicated at times. I think a lot of areas have been frustrating, when you don’t get the result and when you don’t get the goals and the momentum from it.
“Just got to go back and simplify. We know what kind of power play we have and what we’re capable of doing. Just simplify it and go from there.”
