I don't think you're appreciating how good he really is.
-He's an excellent skater (13 rush chances last year, +10 penalties drawn to taken ratio at 5 on 5)
-He drives play really well (+4.5, +3.4, +7.4 in relative corsi at 5-on-5 the past 3 seasons, despite starting most of his shifts in the defensive zone 2 of those 3 years). He also had a positive corsi (50.3%) despite playing on a bad Rangers squad that :
-played against the 2nd easiest schedule in the NHL, but had a negative corsi rating (46.8%)
-was 24th in the league at preventing goals. The only reason they weren't worse is because of good goalie play, especially at 5-on-5 where they had a save percentage of .926, compared to the .924 NHL average).
-He is an effective hitter (at least a hit per game 2 of the last 3 seasons)
-He's always on the ice (21.6 minutes per game last year, 20.5 in 2018-19, and he's a forward)
-He plays against the most difficult competition (>50% of starts in the defensive zone the past 2 seasons, 54% last year)
-He kills penalties (2.62 minutes on the PK per game this year, 1.98 last year). He led all Rangers forwards in PK time per game last season. Only Marc Staal was on the ice in penalty killing situations more. AND he had a positive relative corsi on the PK last year (+4.3), which is best on the team for skaters logging more than 2 minutes of PK time per game.
-He is an excellent scorer (>1 goal per 60 the last 3 seasons, 1.995 last year, with shooting percentages >12% each of the past 3 seasons)
He is
really good.