It wasn’t a good season for the New York Rangers, who finished dead last in the Metropolitan Division standings and didn’t come close to achieving a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Not only that, but they were the worst club in the NHL on home ice, suffering an astounding six shutout losses in front of the home fans at Madison Square Garden.
At various points in the campaign, the play of captain J.T. Miller was brought under scrutiny, and based on the most recent rankings of the 10 worst contracts currently in the NHL, things might not be getting better.
New York Rangers Captain J.T. Miller Included In Recent Ranking Of The NHL’s 10 Worst Contracts
Recently, NHL Insider Joe Yerdon of Bleacher Report put together a list of the 10 worst contracts in the NHL, and unfortunately for the Rangers, Miller was listed at No. 7 overall just ahead of former Rangers captain Jacob Trouba, who is now with the San Jose Sharks.
“There was a time with the Vancouver Canucks when J.T. Miller was a big-time point producer and a defensive menace with his edgy play,” he said. “But the seven-year, $56 million extension he signed there aged poorly for a multitude of reasons on and off the ice. Now that he’s back with the New York Rangers, that’s up to them to figure that out.”
Yerdon continued by noting the difficult ask of Miller to not only be a physical force on the ice, but to produce enough offensively to justify his $8 million salary cap hit.
“As he wears the “C” in New York, the expectation is that Miller can lead the Rangers with the style of play that made him so good with the Canucks,” he said. “If he’s doing that as a point-per-game player and as someone who plays in all situations, his $8 million cap hit is fine. But if you view that through the lens of him needing to be a 90- to 100-point player like he was with the Canucks, it’ll be really difficult to manage those expectations. Now that he’s 33 years old, keeping up the pace offensively and physically might be a lot to ask of Miller.”
This past season, which was Miller’s first full season since being re-acquired by the Rangers from the Vancouver Canucks, he was limited to 68 games and scored 17 goals with 36 assists.
J.T. Miller Understands The Frustration Of Rangers Fans
Miller, who faced the wrath of frustrated Rangers fans among their many losses on home ice, said that he understood their frustration.
“When we show up at the rink and we’re getting booed off because we never win or we don’t score, that’s really hard,” Miller said in April, not long before their season came to a close. “And I’m not blaming the fans at all — at all. I would rather the passion, but that’s something that I take personally.
“That’s the part that I think I’ve had to juggle the most. It’s hard not to get wrapped up in that. You feel like, ‘I’m working so hard to accomplish so little.’”
Rangers Given Concerning Update On Captain J.T. Miller