Fantasy Fare: Why Mika Zibanejad is worth hanging on to ... or trying to acquire
After opening his season with back-to-back four-point games, is Mika Zibanejad a sell-high candidate? Or is he someone you hang on to? ‘Sell-high’ suggests a player won’t continue to produce at his current pace and, no, the Rangers centreman — who was on a 328-point pace heading into Saturday’s matinee against the visiting Oilers — won’t come even close. Still, Zibanejad could easily reach 90 points this season and finish top-10 in scoring. Add up these factors: He’s a sixth overall pick (of the Senators back in 2011) so the skillset, along with the size and speed, are there. He’s only 26 and presumably still getting better. Free-agent signing Artemi Panarin is arguably the most skilled winger he’s ever had and the two of them, along with RW Pavel Buchnevich, have already shown some eye-popping chemistry. And, perhaps most notably: Last season, when the Rangers were in disarray, Zibanejad thrived in spite of it, producing a career-best 30 goals and 74 points. This year, the team is more settled and Jacob Trouba is huge add on the blue line. OK, the defensive competition in the first two games (Ottawa and Winnipeg) wasn’t great, but he shouldn’t fall too far out of the upper tier of forwards.
