The New York Rangers’ naming J.T. Miller as their next team captain has been the biggest news of the day. The hoopla surrounding the move is justifiable, igniting an era of renewed excitement on Broadway.
But beyond the positive press surrounding Miller’s ascension to his team’s top leadership role, there’s a layer of subtext. The Rangers are J.T. Miller’s now. That situation means that team management, GM Chris Drury and coach Mike Sullivan, have entrusted the team’s next chapter to a relative newcomer.
Now, Miller isn’t exactly a newcomer. He was drafted by the Rangers in the first round of the 2011 NHL Draft. However, the club sort of gave up on him. It wasn’t until after he flourished away from New York that the Rangers worked to bring him back.
They finally managed to do so last season. That makes Miller a relative newcomer to the Rangers. And it’s also telling that the club chose to pass on incumbent players like Vincent Trocheck, Artemi Panarin, and Adam Fox for the role.
As Vincent Mercogliano noted in The Athletic, Trocheck was the other leading candidate to wear the “C”. However, it was Miller who got the nod. Mercogliano’s comments also highlighted that everyone “was on board” with the decision.
But why pass on Panarin? Or Fox, for that matter? Don’t they have as much pull in the Rangers’ locker room as Miller?
The fact is that the Rangers could be pivoting at some point in the not-too-distant future.
Rangers could push for a light reset
The New York Rangers could be pushing for a light reset in the coming seasons. Firstly, Panarin will be a free agent next summer. While naming Miller as captain has no direct correlation to Panarin’s future in New York, Mercogliano underscored how Miller has five years left on his current deal.
So, the Rangers are sending a message here. They’re unsure about what to do with Panarin. He could be back in New York next summer, or he could be on the way out.
Meanwhile, Fox is under contract until 2029. That’s roughly four years away. Trocheck is also up in 2029. As for Mika Zibanejad, he may have played himself out of the captaincy over the last couple of seasons.
All told, the Rangers want to build a team identity around Miller’s blue-collar ethos. That direction could necessitate a light reset. It could mean moving on from Panarin this summer. It might also imply keeping Trocheck, Fox, and Zibanejad until their deals run out.
But in the not-too-distant future, the Rangers will be looking to build a club that resembles more the combination of talent and grit that J.T. Miller brings to the table. That may be something that the current veteran core may not be able to easily assimilate.
It might seem like a tough way to go. But if anyone on the current roster isn’t on board with that approach, they could be on the way out.