17 May GETTING TO KNOW NEW YORK RANGERS CENTER MIKA ZIBANEJAD
FAST FACTS:
Name: Mika Zibanejad
Born: April 18, 1993
Birthplace: Stockholm, Sweden
Position: Defense Shoots: Right
Shoots: Right
Draft: 2011 OTT, 1st rd, 6th pk (6th overall)
Salary: Signed a 5 year / $26,750,000 contract with the New York Rangers, including $26,750,000 guaranteed, and an annual average salary of $5,350,000.
This past Sunday night the New York Rangers ousted the Pittsburgh Penguins in the seventh game of the playoffs with a 4-3 overtime victory at the Garden. Mika Zibanejad netted the game-tying goal late in the third period and then assisted on Artemi Panarin’s overtime winner on the power play to finish the final two games of the series with three goals and seven points.
How old were you when you started playing hockey?
When I was 7 years old!
What drives Mika Zibanejad?
I think the highs you get from the crowd, or from the team winning. I’ve always been a guy that tries to make sure everyone is happy. When you win, people are happy around you. No better feeling to hear a crowd go wild over a win in Madison Square Garden. It’s a hard feeling to beat.
Describe your on-ice mentality.
Sometimes I’m kind of passive because I like reading off the situations that I’m waiting for that pass to be able to go. I don’t feel I’m a go-go-go kind of guy really. I’m not predictable. I’m trying to be unpredictable in the ways I’m moving on the ice, in the ways I’m moving in the defensive zone and try to create chances and try to create openings for myself. If that’s by going or just maybe kind of staying away and being forgotten and then come back in or like however it works.
Are you a sniper?
I like to be a pass-first guy. But I know I have a good enough shot to be able to shoot it. I think the shot has been developed and the skating has been developed for me. When I was younger, I could not really skate, like I wasn’t a great skater until I hit maybe 15, 16. So it’s just one of those things where I haven’t been the greatest skater and it was always like the option to pass, because I never really got to the point where I had great scoring opportunities. But I think that changed and the shot changed a little bit, to the good.
Do you like playing wing or center more?
I really like both. They are different, but I can go either way.
What team in the NHL was your favourite as a kid?
I had so many teams I looked up to, but probably Detroit or Pittsburgh.
Who was your favorite hockey player growing up?
I was a big Mario Lemieux fan growing up. Really liked the Penguins, just actually because I liked penguins growing up, like the animal, I don’t know why. I think the biggest reason why I liked Lemieux was just because of the way I played. I tried to mimic him in a way, you know, bigger, right-handed center. Him and Mats Sundin were two guys I really looked up to.
What was your Stanley Cup dream as a kid?
I think that’s one of those things where it comes down to the wire in a Game 7, obviously you get that last opportunity with a couple of seconds left, the game is all tied, and they say the Cup is in your hands. It all comes down to you and everyone’s watching you.
What would you like to tell Ranger fans?
We’re always aiming for the Cup. No matter how a game goes, we stick together and we work and we know what we have in that locker room.