New York Rangers’ 2025-26 Report Cards: J.T. Miller

The New York Rangers entered the 2025-26 season with hopes of making the playoffs, but finished with the worst record in the Eastern Conference, as many of their key players missed extended time with injuries or underperformed. J.T. Miller was expected to be their number-one center, but he dealt with injuries and struggled when he was in the lineup.

Miller’s Struggles in 2025-26

Miller began his career with the Rangers, but they traded him to the Tampa Bay Lightning during the 2017-18 season; they re-acquired him in a trade with the Vancouver Canucks in 2024-25. He had 13 goals and 22 assists in 32 games with New York after the trade and had success playing on a line with Mika Zibanejad.

Just before the start of this season, Miller dealt with a lower-body injury, and though he did not miss any regular-season games, he did not play well early in the campaign. In his first 17 games, he had just three goals and five assists while committing a lot of sloppy turnovers that resulted in scoring chances for the opposition.

Miller never fully broke out offensively or played like a number-one center as he was one of many Rangers who struggled offensively; they were held to two goals or fewer in 17 of their first 32 games and were shut out in six of those games. Though Miller started to produce a little more offensively as the season went on, he continued to committ too many unnecessary giveaways, and his defensive mistakes played a role in the team’s struggles.

In March, Miller went on injured reserve with an upper-body injury, and he ended up missing a couple of weeks. At 33, he is still capable of playing at a high level but never reached that level in 2025-26 and never seemed to get in a rhythm. He finished with 17 goals and 36 assists in 68 games, including six goals and 13 assists on the power play.

Reasons to Be Hopeful

While this was a difficult season for Miller, there are some positive takeaways. He has always been strong on faceoffs, and he won 61.5 per cent of them this season, which was even better than his career 55 per cent win rate. He could be trusted to win key ones late in games, and it also helped the Rangers on both the penalty kill and power play. Though he struggled defensively at even strength, he did a nice job on the penalty kill and came up with some key blocked shots throughout the season.

Miller also played better late in the season when he was no longer expected to be the Rangers’ top center and did not have as much pressure on him. He started generating more scoring chances at even strength and had three goals and 11 assists in his final 13 games of the season.

In 2024-25, Zibanejad had a similar season to Miller’s 2025-26. Zibanejad bounced back in a big way and was the Rangers’ leader in both goals (34) and points (78) this season. He was their most consistent player, and given they are both 33 and have both spent the majority of their careers as number-one centers, the hope is Miller can do the same next season.

Overall Grade

Miller gets a D+ for his play this season. He was named captain in September, and he was expected to produce offensively and defend well, but he struggled both offensively and defensively. Those struggles played a big role in the Rangers’ frustrating performance, but he did play better late in the season and still has the potential to play much better next season.