The New York Rangers are closer to winning the 2025 Stanley Cup than they were yesterday. They are closer to winning the 2026 Stanley Cup, too. History and the odds are stacked against either happening, but Friday’s blockbuster trade was all about increasing the chance.
J.T. Miller is a Ranger. When he’s at his best, he’s good enough to be the top-line center on a Cup-contending team. He showed that as recently as last season when he had 37 goals and 103 points for a Vancouver Canucks team that came closer than anyone in the West to taking down the Edmonton Oilers in the playoffs. That is the level of player Rangers general manager Chris Drury is counting on coming to New York.
Drury has been trying to rework his roster since early in the season when he sent out a memo to other teams saying he was open to trading roster players, mentioning captain Jacob Trouba and Chris Kreider, the longest-tenured Ranger, by name. He wanted to shake up the core, and he started the process by jettisoning Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks in December. Now the Miller trade marks his first core addition since signing Vincent Trocheck in 2022.
Drury had leverage with the Miller trade. The center and star teammate Elias Pettersson’s relationship had deteriorated, and Vancouver felt the need to move one of them, if not both. Jim Rutherford’s interview this week with The Globe and Mail confirmed as much. Miller has a no-movement clause, so he had a say in where he went. Even with their flaws, the Rangers are still a destination for players, drama earlier this season be damned.
New York wasn’t the only suitor for Miller. The Carolina Hurricanes were reportedly in the mix, too, but they pivoted to an even bigger move last Friday, acquiring Mikko Rantanen from the Colorado Avalanche. With the Hurricanes no longer vying for Miller, New York’s position in trade negotiations presumably grew stronger.
All of that explains how the Rangers got Miller without giving up Alexis Lafrenière or Braden Schneider. Instead, the primary player going back to Vancouver is Filip Chytil, a productive third-line center who has dealt with injuries throughout his career, including multiple concussions. He’s a loss for the Rangers, and in three or four years he could be trending in a better direction than Miller, who turns 32 in March. Health is the biggest question for Chytil, who has missed two stretches this season with upper-body injuries, both of which were deemed non-concussion related. Hopefully he is able to stay in the lineup consistently in Vancouver, but the lack of guarantee made him a player with whom the Rangers were willing to part. They took the uncertainty of Miller’s age over the uncertainty of Chytil’s health.
New York also sent Victor Mancini to Vancouver, as well as a top-13 protected 2025 first-round pick. Mancini showed promise when he cracked the Rangers’ opening night lineup, and he profiles long-term as a third-pair defenseman. Drury was willing to part with that, especially with right-shots Adam Fox, Will Borgen and Braden Schneider all under team control. Having prospects Drew Fortescue and EJ Emery in the pipeline also made the Rangers more comfortable with moving on from Mancini.
The Rangers also acquired defensemen Erik Brännström and Jackson Dorrington in the deal. Brännström has split time between the NHL and AHL this season and could get games with the Rangers this year. Dorrington was a 2022 sixth-round pick and is still in college at Northeastern.
Miller, a 2011 Rangers’ draft pick, played 341 games with New York from 2013-2018. New York shipped him to Tampa Bay in 2018 when, as publicly stated in a letter from management to fans, the team embarked on a rebuild. Miller is signed through 2029-30. His $8 million cap hit is significant, though the major jumps in the salary cap announced Friday make it more palatable.
Miller brings a tenacity the Rangers want, and they believe his personality and leadership style will benefit the dressing room, even if it wore on Pettersson in Vancouver. He already has relationships with multiple New York players. He and Trocheck are friends from growing up in the Pittsburgh area, and Trocheck was thrilled by the deal, according to a league source. Miller is also close with Kreider, whom he played with in his previous Rangers stint.
The Rangers already had an older core of forwards before acquiring Miller. Artemi Panarin, whose contract ends after 2025-26, and Kreider are 33. Mika Zibanejad and Trocheck are 31. For better or worse, Miller’s age is in line with those players. Drury is doubling down before that group ages further. He now has upside and depth up the middle with Miller, Trocheck, Zibanejad and Sam Carrick as the team’s top-four centers.
New York still does not have the best roster in the East, but with Miller it’s at least one that, if fully healthy, can be a formidable opponent should it get into the playoffs. Adam Fox is a No. 1 defenseman, and Miller, Trocheck and Zibanejad give the Rangers both depth and firepower up the middle. The biggest reason, though, is in net. Igor Shesterkin, who will be the highest-paid goalie in the world when his contract extension sets in next season, is playing at an elite level. He’s repeatedly shown an ability to rise to the occasion when in the playoffs.
That likely won’t be enough to do much damage this season. There are still holes in the roster. Even when the team is playing well, it relies too much on Shesterkin. Drury can try to fill some holes by the trade deadline, but other major moves will likely have to wait until the summer.
In terms of team building, this season more than any other has been the one in which Drury has left his biggest imprint on the team’s construction. Of the players who dressed for opening night, all but five were either acquired or drafted by the John Davidson and Jeff Gorton-led front office. Now Trouba is gone, Kaapo Kakko and Chytil are gone, and the Rangers have worked smaller Drury additions into the fold: Borgen, Urho Vaakanainen and Arthur Kaliyev.
Miller, though, will be the biggest. It’s Drury’s most dramatic step yet in making this roster his own.
(Photo: Bob Frid / Imagn Images)
