The New York Rangers are expected to activate capatain J.T. Miller off of injured reserve for a return in Saturday’s game against the Minnesota Wild, head coach Mike Sullivan told Mollie Walker of The New York Post. Miller was placed on injured reserve with an upper-body injury on March 3rd. It wasn’t entirely clear when Miller got hurt, though the resulting injury was separate from the one that held him out of eight games in late December and early January.
Miller has been a cornerstone of the offense in his healthy minutes. He has scored 38 points in 51 games, the third highest scoring pace on the team after Artemi Panarin‘s departure. Miller has also served a consistent role on New York’s top power-play and second penalty-kill units. The all-situations role has earned him more than 20 minutes a night on average, his most ice time since Vancouver’s 2022-23 campaign.
Miller had multiple high-scoring seasons in Vancouver, including years with 82, 99, and 103 points. He emerged as an explosive playmaker and became only the second Canucks forward with multiple 60-assist seasons, alongside Henrik Sedin. Miller has continued that playmaking in his return to New York. He also earned the first captaincy handed out by New York’s new head coach – and Miller’s coach at the Winter Olympics – Mike Sullivan, speaking to the veteran presence Miller brings to the lineup.
That presence will be an important addition to the Rangers’ game day, even as the team sits last in the Eastern Conference standings. The Rangers will fave a tough decision of how to balance Miller’s special teams minutes after rookies Gabriel Perreault and Noah Laba stepped into bigger minutes in the captain’s absence. Perreault scored one goal and two points on the powerplay, while Laba was New York’s second-most utilized penalty-killer, in Miller’s five games out of the lineup. New York will also have to balance the ice time of bottom-six left-winger Tye Kartye, who has six points in seven games since joining the Rangers at the Trade Deadline.
One way or another, the Rangers will close the season with a focus on finding the right pieces for next season, while Miller looks to get back to full health after a busy winter headlined by an Olympic Gold medal.
Yeah too much wins lately