The NHL 15: The Rangers are counting on J.T. Miller to fix a lot

He might not be able to do everything they expect. That also has nothing to do with him and everything to do with their roster and how their team has been built.

Before each NHL season I look at 15 players that I think are the most intriguing players in the NHL. Not necessarily the best players (though, sometimes they are), but players that offer some sort of intrigue, a big storyline or figure to be a major X-factor for the season. This is The NHL 15. We continue today with New York Rangers forward J.T. Miller, who is being counted on to fix a lot of the Rangers problems.

---

I will give the New York Rangers credit for this: They recognized something was wrong with their team — from both an on-ice perspective and a leadership perspective — and needed to make some major changes to it. Over the past year-and-a-half they have completely overhauled their leadership group and roster, sending out veterans like Jacob Trouba, Chris Kreider, Barclay Goodrow and K’Andre Miller, while making significant changes to their defense and coaching staff.

Whether or not they made the right moves remains to be seen (I am not convinced and remain highly skeptical), but a lot of names and faces are certainly different. And that is something that absolutely needed to happen because the team as it was constructed was not good enough.

One of the most significant changes to the roster might have come in the middle of the 2024-25 season when they acquired forward J.T. Miller from the Vancouver Canucks, bringing him back to New York nearly a decade after originally trading him away.

Not only did they bring him back as a centerpiece to their roster, they also went and made him their new captain for the start of the 2025-26 season. It’s a pretty clear sign that they have big expectations for what Miller can do for their team culture and ability to play winning hockey.

But is this actually going to work out the way they want it to and expect it to? Or is this just a vintage Rangers move that prioritizes a big name over what’s actually best for the success of the franchise?

On the surface it’s really easy to look at this from the latter perspective and see some “same old Rangers” in it. A flawed team trading away young players and draft picks to add another expensive player on the wrong side of 30 to a roster that already has a lot of expensive players on the wrong side of 30? Yeah. That’s the Rangers. That is what they do and that is what they have done for years.

If I were the Rangers, and if I were even somewhat self-aware of what was happening with my hockey team, the thing that would be most concerning to me is that after they acquired Miller prior to the 2024-25 trade deadline he actually played really well and produced at the level you want to see from him. His 13 goals and 35 points in 32 games projected out to a 33-goal, 90-point pace over 82 games.

That’s really good! He was really good!

It also didn’t make a damn bit of difference!

The Rangers went 15-14-3 after the trade, despite Miller scoring like an All-Star. All of the defensive issues and poor 5-on-5 play that existed prior to the trade (and in previous seasons) were still there after the trade. They gave up chances by the truckload, and with Igor Shesterkin playing like a mere mortal instead of superman the Rangers’ season just fell apart because their goalie didn’t bail their asses out for once.

They added a legitimate first-line scorer that produced like a first-line scorer and didn’t get any better. Not even a little bit. Not in any objective, meaningful way. That’s not easy to do! You’re supposed to get better after that! They were basically the same team they were before the trade, only this time with a guy that isn’t afraid to yell at his teammates and break some hockey sticks.

So what does that mean for the Rangers going into the 2025-26 season?

Let’s talk about that.