In the eyes of Mike Sullivan, it’s not an easy question to answer. Just when the Rangers think they’re close to getting the best version of J.T. Miller — their captain, the former 103-point scorer — an injury pops up.
Miller has spent two stints on injured reserve for separate injuries and he also missed a pair of games in November for the injury that landed him on IR the first time a month later.
And around those absences, Miller has collected just 38 points in 53 games entering Wednesday’s matchup with the Devils at the Garden, putting him on track for his fewest across a full campaign with at least 60 games played since 2018-19.
Sullivan, in defense of the struggling Miller, admitted that it’s been a “difficult” year and said that Miller is still someone the Rangers — in the middle of a retool after The Letter 2.0 — “can build an identity around.”
“I know it’s been hard on him,” Sullivan told reporters after the Rangers practiced Tuesday. “It’s been hard on him because obviously he has high expectations of himself and the group, and when we don’t meet those, I think nobody feels it more than the leaders.”
Miller hasn’t scored for the Blueshirts since Jan. 26, and he has collected just two points in the five games he’s played once the Olympic break ended and Miller returned from his time with Team USA in Milan, where he served an integral role on a penalty kill that didn’t allow a goal en route to the gold medal.
But there have been chances for Miller to still produce. Have been flashes of his vintage form. He nearly capitalized on a rebound in the first period of Monday’s loss to the Kings, but Los Angeles goaltender Darcy Kuemper collected the puck.
He collected four goals and 10 points in 13 games before landing on injured reserve after absorbing a hit against the Flyers in December.
Sullivan placed him right back on the first power-play unit last week after Miller returned from injured reserve, bumping Gabe Perreault to the second group in a puzzling move too.
Near the end of the Rangers’ lost season, even with numbers depicting a down year, Sullivan still hasn’t strayed from trusting Miller.
“Obviously we rely on him in so many areas of our game — in particular to produce offense, and he puts a lot of pressure on himself because he knows that he can help the team in that regard,” Sullivan said.
“I’ve had a lot of conversations with J.T. over the course of the year, and he cares deeply about what’s going on here with our organization and the Rangers and he takes his responsibilities as the leader of the team very seriously and he wears it. He cares a lot about what’s going on.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
