It was a bit of a tough year for Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller. Unfortunately for him, his offseason hasn’t gotten off to a good start either. Mollie Walker of the New York Post relays that the blueliner recently underwent surgery to repair an upper-body injury sustained late in the season. His initial plan was to rehab the injury and avoid going under the knife but he ultimately opted for the procedure after the rehab wasn’t working as planned. The hope is that he will be ready to return for the start of next season.
The 25-year-old has been a core defender for New York over his five-year NHL career. He has shown some flashes of being an all-around top-pairing piece with an intriguing offensive game but inconsistency has been an issue for him.
That was the case this year, as it was for quite a few Rangers. Miller played in 74 games, picking up 27 points, his lowest point total since the 2021-22 campaign, his first full NHL season. He also set a new career high in turnovers with 97; his previous high in that regard was 68.
That’s not exactly the ideal platform year heading into restricted free agency this summer, nor does this surgery help on that front. Miller is arbitration-eligible for the first time and is owed a $4.646MM qualifying offer, matching his salary from this season but well above his $3.872MM cap charge. If he files for a hearing, he could ask for a two-year agreement that walks him to UFA status but the team would get the final say on if it was a one-year or two-year award.
It’s also worth noting that GM Chris Drury won’t have a lot of cap flexibility this summer. With the acquisition of J.T. Miller midseason and the long-term record-breaking extension for Igor Shesterkin, the Rangers have just $8.4MM in cap room, per PuckPedia. Miller isn’t the only player who needs to be signed as winger Will Cuylle is in line for a new deal as well as a restricted free agent and should come in around the $3MM mark at least on a bridge agreement. That doesn’t leave much wiggle room to hammer out any type of long-term deal.
Heading into the summer, it felt like the likeliest outcome for Miller was a one-year deal at or near his qualifying offer. Now with the surgery, that might push things even more in that direction over the coming weeks.
I will say this, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Will Cuylle on another team next season especially with New York tight on cap. However, with the cap rising, the expectations are, teams are going to be willing to put offer sheets out on RFAs since their cap is rising. St. Louis did it last summer & it paid off for them. For teams who don’t have a lot of cap space like New York, it could be a significant challenge to compete against other teams offer sheets for their RFAs.
Losing Cuylle would be a big mistake by the Rangers. Maybe if they didn’t sign Shesty to such a ridiculous contract they wouldn’t be in such a financial bind. Knock $3 mil off of it and the Rangers aren’t in this position. But it’s done, so they need to look elsewhere.
Do they ask Panarin to leave? He’s got one year left and it’s not like they can afford to re-sign him. It’ll be a huge deficit in scoring, but he still has value.
If I have to choose between Zib and Kreider going, losing Zib gets more cap space and term. Kreider has two years left and for less money.
Do you take a chance that Laffy will have a bounce back season? The extension now looks like a massive overpay ($2.325 mil up to $7.45 mil), but Drury can’t re-negotiate it. Should the Rangers give up on him (like they did with so many other recent 1st rounders) and trade him?
No matter who they trade, the Rangers need a solid d-man in return. Outside of Fox, they have one 2nd pair (K’Andre) and a bunch of thirds who are being asked to do more than they can handle.
Agree with all the first paragraph. Shesterkin, as with ALL goalies, isn’t worth the record breaking money. Just ask the Islanders!
If moving on from Panarin…. probably necessary cap wise….then you gotta keep Kreids/Zibs together. There’s chemistry there.
A bounce back from Lafreniere still makes him….at best….a mediocre player. Worth less than Cuyle. Always lost, never shoots, misses def responsibilities while lamenting his turnover and sloppy shift changes. Time to cut bait.
They definitely need a D-man. Trouba ? Lol
Panarin has a habit of disappearing in the playoffs, so while that regular season scoring is fantastic, ultimately, you need someone who can produce in the playoffs. So given a choice, I would opt to trade him and keep Zib & Kreider. They definitely still have chemistry. I had the privilege of seeing the Rangers play their last game of the season (free tix through work), and those two showed that they still have it. I’m hoping that they can put the mess of this season past them.
Fortunately, Laffy doesn’t have any clauses in his contract to prevent him from being traded in the first two years of this new contract (8 team NTC after that). So if the Rangers don’t think he can score without being on Panarin’s line, then send him to a rebuilding team that needs help reaching the salary floor.
For the record, his shooting % is good (13.5% career), but yes, he definitely needs to shoot more. Like 50-100% more.