The New York Rangers defense has been a disaster recently, but the Blueshirts continue to look for more from their backend. One of the best pairings since coming together has started to falter, significantly impacting how the Rangers play. The pairing of K'Andre Miller and Will Borgen was excellent after Borgen's acquisition from the Seattle Kraken. Since the trade deadline, the struggles of those two have spearheaded the issues of the Blueshirts blueline blemishes recently.
Individually, it doesn't make for good reading. Since the deadline, K'Andre Miller has had the worst goals against per 60 (GA/60) on the Rangers. For every 60 minutes he plays at 5-on-5, the Rangers give up just under 3.5 goals. That's a problem. They only score 2.37 per 60 minutes when he's on the ice, so there is a problem with Miller. How do the Rangers get the best out of their 6'4, Minnesotan defenseman? That could be the key to saving the season.
It doesn't read much better for Borgen. Excluding Miller, Borgen's GA/60 is the worst on the roster at 2.69. His offensive numbers are better, though, at 2.99 GF/60, meaning that the Rangers score more with Borgen on the ice than they give up. However, Borgen is not enduring the same level of struggle as Miller is at this moment. That's a positive, but the fact that this extremely successful pairing is having issues is a concern.
A solution will need to fix this and get more out of Miller. New York's struggles stem from some poor performances on the blueline, and getting this fixed means getting K'Andre Miller back to something near his best. He's had a rough month and will need to rebound as the Rangers push on, hoping to secure the final playoff place in the Eastern Conference race.