Rangers trade K’Andre Miller to Hurricanes as roster makeover continues
The Rangers sent that first-rounder to St. Louis on Feb. 9, 2023, to acquire rental properties Vlad Tarasenko and Niko Mikkola. They left as free agents that summer after the team’s first-round defeat to the Devils.
Kravtsov, a soap opera from the start, played 48 games for the Rangers, recording 10 points (5-5) before he was shipped to Vancouver around the 2023 deadline for a seventh-round draft pick and William Lockwood.
Miller played 368 games wearing the Blueshirt, 261 of which he was paired with Trouba on the club’s second pair beginning the second week of his rookie 2020-21 season. The 6-foot-5 defenseman could be a force at both ends of the ice, using his reach to make up for a lack of physicality in his own end while able to join the rush at will.
Miller’s ceiling seemed as high as the ones in pre-World War II apartment buildings lining the Upper West Side. But after ascending under Gerard Gallant’s two-year tenure behind the bench, Miller regressed in each of the past two seasons with Peter Laviolette as the head coach and Phil Housley as the defensive coordinator.
No. 79 became increasingly erratic and was prone to critical mistakes under pressure on his reads and while handling the puck. Of course, every single defenseman regressed last season, and essentially every veteran regressed as well. There were issues that were far beyond Miller — who recorded 27 points (7-20), and was on for 62 goals for and 66 against with an xGF of 45.93 percent.
But GM Chris Drury was committed to changing the chemistry within the room. The Rangers were not going to commit long term on Miller, who was coming up on restricted free agency. And with cap space at a premium, the 25-year-old became the club’s most attractive trade commodity.
