The 2022-23 NHL regular season has almost concluded and the New York Rangers have awarded several players with distinguished honors before their final game.
The team announced that Mika Zibanejad was named the Rangers’ Most Valuable Player, as voted on by members of the Rangers media, and Ryan Lindgren was named the winner of the Players’ Player Award, as voted on by his teammates. Filip Chytil was later awarded the John Halligan Good Guy Award as reported by Mollie Walker of the New York Post as well.
New York is just three points shy of matching last year’s points total in large part due to the career year of Zibanejad. The former Swedish forward has recorded 39 goals and 51 assists this season and is the third Rangers center since 1982-83 to record 90 points in a season (Gretzky, Messier). His 20 powerplay goals set a new career-high for him and are the third most in the NHL. Zibanejad is one of five skaters in the NHL to have recorded 90 or more points and a plus-25 or better rating. It’s the second time he’s received the MVP award amongst the media for the Rangers.
Lindgren on the other hand took home the award that “best exemplifies what it means to be a team player,” for the second time in the last three seasons. The former second-round pick from Minnesota has totaled career-highs in assists (17) and points (18) through 62 games for the Rangers this season while recording a team-high +29 on-ice rating.
The Professional Hockey Writers Association Rangers’ chapter also announced that Chytil won the John Halligan Good Guy Award for his “season-long willingness to cooperate with the media.” Chytil is coming off a career season in which he set highs in goals, assists, points, and +/- rating. He recently signed a four-year extension that keeps him in New York until the 2026-27 season.
Zibanejad, Chytil, and Lindgren are three of the main pieces that have gotten the Rangers to the playoffs for the second consecutive year. How far the roster ends up going will be determined shortly as the Stanley Cup Playoffs are set to begin on April 17th.
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