K'Andre Miller among the questions facing Rangers GM Chris Drury in the offseason
K'Andre Miller of the New York Rangers. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Rangers’ miserable and ultimately failed season ended Thursday night with a nice parting gift for the fans — a 4-0 win over Tampa Bay at Madison Square Garden. And with no playoffs to worry about, the long and busy offseason begins now for president and general manager Chris Drury.
Priority No. 1 on Drury’s summer to-do list is addressing the coaching situation. Second-year coach Peter Laviolette, who led the team to the Presidents’ Trophy and an appearance in the Eastern Conference finals in 2023-24, is expected to be fired, and Drury will need to hire a third coach in his four-plus years on the job.
“Those are things I can’t control,’’ Laviolette said after the game when asked about his job security. “The year certainly wasn’t where it needed to be, but right now, up here, this is where I wanted to be.’’
Even when the coaching situation is decided, there will be a lot left for Drury to do as he tries to improve the roster. And among the things he must figure out is what to do with 25-year-old K’Andre Miller, who will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights this summer.
The 6-5, 210-pound defenseman, a first-round pick by the Rangers in 2018, was expected to blossom into a star in his fifth season, but he had an up-and-down season in 2024-25.
He had an assist Thursday night and finished with seven goals, 20 assists, an even plus/minus rating and 22 penalty minutes in 74 games. But he had a number of untimely turnovers during the season, which made him a magnet for negative comments on social media.
Now Drury has to decide how much longer he’s willing to wait for Miller, who signed a two-year, $7.74 million bridge contract in 2023, to live up to his potential. Does he re-sign him and maybe try to get him on another short-term deal? Or does he move on from him and try to find a replacement somewhere?
Miller acknowledged this week that he hasn’t had the season he hoped for. “I had a tough start to the year,’’ he said. “I don’t know, I feel like I could never really get a good grip on my season. I found it tough to bounce back and get back to where I wanted to be. But I still tried sticking to what I do best, playing guys hard.’’
At the start of the season, when Adam Fox’s usual defense partner, Ryan Lindgren, missed the first five games with a broken jaw, Miller partnered with Fox and the two were effective together. But after Lindgren came back, Miller was put back with his longtime partner, Jacob Trouba, and they did not play well together. Trouba was traded in early December as Drury started to remake the roster on the fly.
“I don’t know if it overall affected me, I guess,’’ Miller said when asked how he felt when Trouba was traded. “But I think from our day-to-day conversations, to breaking down the game and just talking hockey, life, whatever else comes in between, that part is obviously missing. And obviously Troubs is a huge part of my life in that aspect.’’
Laviolette trusted and relied on Miller, though, and his average time on ice of 21 minutes, 56 seconds was second on the team to Fox. The coach most often used Miller and partner Will Borgen as his top defense pair against opposing team’s top forward lines.
“I feel like he plays hard,’’ Laviolette said when asked about Miller’s season. “He plays against the toughest players. Him and Borgie, they get tough matchups. They get defensive-zone starts against the best players on the opposition. I think sometimes you take that for granted, that you’re just taking minutes out there. And it becomes different when you start playing against, you know, Florida’s top line or Tampa’s top line. It becomes a more difficult task.’’
Miller is by far the top left- shot defenseman in the organization, so if Drury decides to trade him, he will need to acquire a big, reliable two-way defenseman to replace him. That doesn’t figure to be easy, especially for a team that harbors aspirations of returning to Stanley Cup contender status.
With the Rangers not playing playoff hockey, Miller was asked if he has interest in playing in the World Championships or if he has heard from Team USA about joining the squad.
“I haven’t, honestly,’’ he said. “I’ve never participated in a Worlds. I haven’t put on the USA sweater in a number of years, and I’d love to do that again and represent our country. And, obviously, with the way this season ended, maybe ending on a little bit higher note.’’
Notes & quotes: Mika Zibanejad had two goals to get to 20 and Chris Kreider and Vincent Trocheck (shorthanded) had the other goals. Igor Shesterkin made 27 saves to post his sixth shutout of the season . . . The Rangers finished 39-36-7 . . . Will Cuylle had two hits, giving him 301 for the season, the most in franchise history. He finished tied for third in the league
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Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
