2011 – Original Selection #15 J.T. Miller
It was a punch to the gut when the Rangers traded away Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller on the same day in the same trade. There were rumors speculating that fans would be losing McDonagh, but we didn’t expect to lose Miller with him.
J.T. Miller plays the game with a chip on his shoulder. He’ll punish you on the boards and on the scoresheet. There were reports that his ability to trash talk got him in trouble early on with his teammates, coaches and opposing players. Miller was “put in his place” a few times, but the skilled prospect could back up the “chirping” in more ways than one.
Still only 27-years old, Miller is coming off of his best season to date in Vancouver. It appears that Miller was looking for a change of scenery and has found the right fit with his third home with the Canucks.
New Selection: J.T. Miller
Nikita Kucherov may be the best player to come out of this draft, but the Rangers couldn’t have predicted he would be the player he is today.
Trade Note:
J.T. Miller and Ryan McDonagh were traded to Tampa Bay on February 26th, 2018 for Libor Hajek, Brett Howden, Vladislav Namestnikov, a first round pick in the 2018 draft (Nils Lundkvist) and conditional second round pick in the 2019 draft (Karl Henriksson).
Critics have been skeptical of this trade to date. The return for Miller and McDonagh is surely sizeable in terms of quantity, but it remains to be seen if this ultimately was a one-sided trade.
Other notable players available:
#20 Connor Murphy, #27 Vladislav Namestnikov, #30 Rickard Rakell, #43 Andrew Saad ,#58 Nikita Kucherov, #64 Vincent Trocheck #104 Johnny Gaudreau