The injuries continue to pile up for the New York Rangers. Captain J.T. Miller is expected to miss a few weeks with an upper-body injury sustained on Saturday, per NHL.com’s Dan Rosen. The injury occured on a reverse hit from Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler that seemed to catch Miller near his right shoulder. Despite the multi-week timeline, the Rangers aren’t concerned that this injury will effect Miller’s availability for the Winter Olympics. That’s great news, as he’s sure to be a prime option to assume a center role in Team USA’s bottom-six.
Miller has helped platoon the offense in the wake of injury to defenseman Adam Fox and illness to star winger Artemi Panarin. The captain has four points in his last five games and 22 points in 35 games this season. He ranks fourth on the Rangers in scoring behind Panarin, Fox, and Mika Zibanejad. Panarin returned to the lineup on Saturday, though Fox is still on the mend. That will continue the rotating door of star injuries in New York, who will have to now lean on Panarin and Zibanejad to boost a Rangers offense that has only scored two goals in their last three games.
Miller’s Olympic availability will be a central story as he recovers from this new injury. He played in all four games at the 2025 Four-Nations Face-Off but didn’t manage any scoring. That was just the first time that Miller has joined USA’s Men’s team for an international tournament – though he did play one game with Team North America at the 2017 World Cup, with no scoring. The 32-year-old center has been an electric scorer in the NHL, though, with 354 points in 314 games since 2022. That includes a 99-point season and a career-high 103-point season, both recorded during his six years with the Vancouver Canucks. He is now back where he started his career, and will look to rise back to that point-per-game scoring on the other side of an end-of-year injury.
If the injury kept Miller out of the Olympics, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal. Sure, Miller is a useful player, but he hasn’t had a great season. There are other pivots who can play a bottom 6 center role for the USA if he is out. Larkin can play the 3rd line role & then you have Nelson or Trocheck who can play the 4th line.
While I’d likely bring Miller on Team USA as the 14th forward, we don’t lack for options at center.