LAS VEGAS — Still sweaty from a failed Rangers’ comeback bid, J.T. Miller sat at his locker, reading over the stat sheet. When reporters gathered around him, the captain — who has only 10 points in 21 games — gave a blunt assessment of his offensive performance.
“This year it seems like nothing’s really going in the net,” he said after his team’s 3-2 loss to the Golden Knights. “We’ve got a big enough sample size — 25 percent of the season is gone — and we’re in a lot of one-goal games. If I can raise my personal standard and lead the team a little bit better production wise, I think our outcome in these games are going to change.”
Team president Chris Drury has invested a lot into making Miller one of the faces of the Rangers. He sent a first-round pick, Filip Chytil and Victor Mancini to Vancouver to acquire the forward in January. New York named him captain before training camp, not only because Miller plays with the in-your-face, hard-nosed style Drury likes, but also because he is, at his best, a top-notch two-way player. The 32-year-old veteran averaged 34 goals and 95 points his final three full seasons in Vancouver and is one of only two players in Canucks history to average more than a point-per-game for the franchise.
This year, though, offense has been difficult to come by for Miller, who picked up a secondary assist on a six-on-five goal late against the Golden Knights. Only five of his 10 points are at five-on-five, and he has only one goal in his past nine games. He admitted it’s making him frustrated: an emotion he finds hard to control at points, even if he’s “come a long way in a sense of not getting wrapped up in that s—.”
“I understand if I’m producing the way I’m capable of producing our record might look a hell of a lot different,” he said. “Trust me, it’s on my mind.”
J.T. Miller faced off with another star Tuesday night in Las Vegas’ Jack Eichel. (Stephen R. Sylvanie / Imagn Images)
Teammate Vincent Trocheck, who’s known Miller since they were kids in the Pittsburgh area, doesn’t want the captain thinking about it. He shook his head as he listened to Miller answer a question about his production.
“He could go 60 games without a point: He’s still going to win faceoffs, he’s going to hit guys, he’s going to get to the net, he’s going to play hard, he’s going to lead by example,” Trocheck said. “I want him on the ice whenever we need a goal, whenever we need to stop a goal. That’s the bottom line.”
But the reality is that, as impactful as Miller can be when he’s not scoring, New York needs him to bring an offensive presence. That’s why he’s making $8 million annually. He knows it, and his coach does, too.
“Obviously we’ve got to find a way to help him capture his offensive game,” Mike Sullivan said. “I thought earlier in the year he was getting a lot of chances. The puck wasn’t going in the net for him. I don’t think he’s got as many chances as of late.”
According to colleague Dom Luszczyszyn’s Net Rating model, Miller has an offensive rating of zero: not negative, but still last among New York’s usual top-six forwards. Among that group, only Trocheck has fewer points, though he’s played just seven games.
Miller nearly picked up an assist on a Jonny Brodzinski goal in the third period Tuesday, but the score came off the board after a successful Vegas challenge for offsides. He pointed to the play postgame as an example of being snakebit.
“I don’t expect to have a point-per-game every season, but I certainly feel I can be a little farther along than where I’m at now,” he said.
Miller’s usage could factor into why he hasn’t produced as much offensively. Sullivan regularly uses him against other teams’ top players, including primarily against Jack Eichel on Tuesday. According to Hockey Stat Cards, Miller has gone against the hardest opponents of anyone on the Rangers. He’s handled that responsibility well on the defensive end: His 1.2 defensive rating is his best since 2019-20. The Rangers in general have been far stingier defensively this year than in 2024-25, and Miller has been a big part of that.
He didn’t want to use that as an excuse for his lack of scoring, though.
“I’ve been playing against other teams’ top lines for a handful of years now,” he said. “At some point you look in the mirror. I certainly expect a hell of a lot more production than what I have.”
Though Miller’s offensive start is concerning — especially considering players’ performance often starts to slip in their 30s — there is reason to believe his numbers should improve as the season goes. His 8.5 shooting percentage is his lowest since 2013-14, when he played only 30 games as a second-year player. That will likely even out and get closer to his career average of 14.9 percent. Staying the course is likely the best approach he can take.
“As long as you’re doing the little things, that’s all I can ask out of a teammate,” Trocheck said. “And No. 8 does all the little things.”
“I’ve never really gauged my game on points,” Miller said. “Typically when I play my game, points come.”
Eventually, the Rangers will need them to.
Other notes
• Sullivan returned to the bench after missing Sunday’s game against Detroit to attend to a family matter. He thanked the Rangers for their support during “a little bit of a trying circumstance” that he asked to keep private. He flew from Boston to Las Vegas to meet the team Tuesday morning.
Assistants David Quinn and Joe Sacco split head coaching duties while Sullivan was out.
• The Rangers penalty kill has floundered of late. It went 0-for-2 against the Golden Knights and is 20-for-31 in the past 11 games.
“We’ve got to work on it,” Trocheck said. “Something’s got to change.”
Vegas needed less than 30 seconds to strike during its first power play Tuesday. Mitch Marner fired a puck on net, and Tomáš Hertl got a piece of it, contributing to Igor Shesterkin allowing a juicy rebound that bounced right to rookie Braeden Bowman, who fired it into the net.
New York’s second penalty kill might’ve been worse than the first. Eichel generated multiple golden looks: Shesterkin somehow managed to get a leg on one shot while lying on his stomach, and the Golden Knights’ star also hit the cross bar and generated a great look for Pavel Dorofeyev, who Shesterkin also stoned. The Rangers nearly converted a shorthanded two-on-one, but Shea Theodore beat Shesterkin with a snapshot shortly thereafter.
“I think we’ve got to pressure more,” Sullivan said. “There’s a lot of hesitation in their game right now, and when you get scored against it’s probably a bit of a natural tendency. We’ve got to get back on our toes and putting pressure on people.”
• Sullivan opted to move Will Cuylle off the top power-play unit despite having him skate with the group at morning skate. It was a peculiar decision, given the wing’s two power-play goals in six games on the top unit.
“We’ve talked about a particular look depending on what kills look like,” Sullivan said. “It was more about the set up. Put it this way: It wasn’t performance based.”
Sullivan also moved Cuylle off a line with Miller and Mika Zibanejad. The coach likes how Cuylle plays with Noah Laba, and he hoped a change to the lines would get his two veterans going. Cuylle still played 18:57, the fifth-most of any Rangers’ forward, and assisted the Rangers’ lone five-on-five goal of the night, a Brodzinski tally off a rebound.
