Zibanejad on the move in rehab
It’s been a little bit easier for Mika Zibanejad to smile these days, now that the boot is off his broken leg and he no longer has to walk with crutches.
But the Rangers center is only halfway through his two-month injury timeline since he broke his leg on Nov. 20 against the Panthers. But now that he can walk, and now that the halfway mark has come and gone, things are starting to look a little brighter.
“Always a nice one when you progress in your recovery,” Zibanejad said after his team’s Thursday practice in Westchester, as they ready to play host to the Wild on Friday night at the Garden before the three-day Christmas break. “But only halfway there. Now the rest of it is ahead of me. I’m just excited for every step that goes by.”
Zibanejad was hurt when he plunged into the back- boards in the first shift of overtime, and having to watch since then has not be easy — even as the Blueshirts have kept pace in the terrifically difficult Metropolitan Division.
“Frustrating, first of all,” he said. “First couple weeks couldn’t really move. It’s frustrating to watch hockey when you can’t be a part of it and when you can’t do anything about it. The team has been doing well anyway, but you want to be out there and help the team as much as you can. And when you don’t get to do that, and the opportunity is taken away from you, it sucks.”
The 23-year-old, obtained in an offseason deal with the Senators that sent Derick Brassard to Ottawa, has now started riding the stationary bike, and although he wouldn’t share, he’s eyeing a mid-to-late-January date for his return.
“You never know how fast it’s going to happen,” he said. “I can’t really give a timetable.” With the absence of
Rick Nash ( groin, out another two games) and Pavel Buchnevich (back, out until mid-January), the Rangers have just 12 healthy forwards. So Vigneault said the lineup up front is going to be the same as it was for the 7-2 drubbing at the hands of the Penguins on Tuesday night in Pittsburgh.
As f or t hat game, Vigneault said he didn’t want to talk about it, and he has “moved on.” But he is expecting his leadership group to get the players ready for Minnesota.
“Coaches are going to come in and we’re going to have a team plan for what we need to do and what we need to execute on the ice, but the veteran guys needs to make sure that everyone in that room is ready to play and ready to execute and perform,” he said. “We still have one more game, and I’m confident that the strong leadership we have in that room is going to step up and do the right thing.”