The New York Rangers have been the center of attention for the last few weeks, as they traded their captain Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks, leaving many fans curious this would change their production.
Unfortunately it has not, as on Monday night, the Rangers took another embarrassing loss against the Chicago Blackhawks for their eighth loss in the last ten games.
Since Trouba is no longer part of the Rangers, the attention has shifted over to star forward Mika Ziabanejad and seems to be the one who is the most under pressure as he has not met the expectations from his following season.
Rangers insider, Larry Brooks of the New York Post recently called out Mika Zibanejad on the Spittin' Chiclets podcast and called him «very sensitive» as he's too worried about what others and the media think of him.
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Unfortunately, Brooks isn't wrong has everyone has seen the decrease in his production over the last 27 games as he only put up 20 points (5 G, 15 A).
Along with the decline in production, Zibanejad and his cap hit of $8.5 million has been involved in trade talks recently despite his no-movement clause.
Obviously there is a lot of discomfort in the Rangers locker room after how things unfolded with Trouba, but the veteran players are now presented with the opportunity to bring the team back on track.
The Rangers sit at 14-12-1 with 29 points, just a single point out of the second wildcard position in the Eastern Conference, but that could all change tonight as they face off against the Buffalo Sabres at 7:00PM.