Mika Zibanejad was voted the Rangers 2025-26 Team MVP by the media and the 2025-26 Players’ Player Award by his teammates.
The Players’ Player Award has been given annually since the conclusion of the 1958-59 season and recognizes the Ranger who, as selected by his teammates, “best exemplifies what it means to be a team player.”
Adam Rotter: Both are fairly obvious but very deserved choices. It wasn’t that long ago that there was so much focus on whether the Rangers would ask Zibanejad to waive his no-move clause after struggling for large parts of last season. Mike Sullivan went to Sweden to visit with Zibanejad and whether it was that meeting, the return of David Quinn, who was the head coach when Zibanejad became an elite player, the motivation to prove he could still be a top player or something else, right away Zibanejad looked different and like the player he had been. He was fast, decisive, consistent and productive. He even started shooting on the PP again. He just seems like he re-found his confidence and ability to be a top-level player for this team.
If there are to be any questions about his future they are going to be because teams are calling about him and not the Rangers calling teams about him. He isn’t going anywhere and his role as number one center, between Alexis Lafreniere and Gabe Perreault, seems set for next season.