J.T. Miller isn’t hiding from the slump, and the Rangers captain knows the scoring has to come from him, too.
That was the clearest takeaway after New York’s 3-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Monday night, a game that once again left the Blueshirts searching for offense. Miller, who wears the “C” and is expected to set the tone, said the quiet part out loud when he addressed the way his own finishing has gone missing.
Via Mollie Walker of the New York Post:
Captain J.T. Miller said #NYR need to find a way to bear down and score some goals, especially himself.
"Hard on myself in that department. I feel like I'm all over the net right now, and nothing seemed to find the net.
We're just missing that timely goal. That was a big game for us today.
I thought if we could get one today, it really had the ball rolling for us. It hurts a little right now, but we got a day off tomorrow to think about it and then we'll move forward to Calgary."
The raw production line still looks decent enough at first glance: 19 games, four goals, nine assists, 13 points. But the trend underneath it is harder to ignore. When Miller first came back to the Rangers from the Vancouver Canucks in 2024-25, he was producing at a much higher rate, averaging 0.41 goals, 0.69 assists and 1.09 points per game over 32 games.
Last season, injuries dragged those numbers down. He played 68 games and settled at 0.25 goals, 0.53 assists and 0.78 points per game. This year, the slide has continued through the first quarter of the schedule, with his rates sitting at 0.21 goals, 0.47 assists and 0.68 points per game.
The bigger issue isn’t just the total. It’s how the goals are coming.
Miller had three shots on goal against Edmonton, but his shot generation has been uneven all season. Of his four goals, three were not the kind of clean looks a top-line center usually wants to live on.
One came against Utah when a Vladislav Gavrikov point shot clipped his skate and went in. Another against Anaheim came on a deflection of an Adam Fox power-play drive.
A third against Los Angeles went in off his skate again, this time on a feed from Tye Kartye.
His only goal that fit the more traditional mold came against Ottawa, when he pounced on a loose puck in the crease after an Adam Fox blast bounced off a Senators defender and landed at his feet.
The shot totals tell the same story. Miller’s game-by-game numbers this season have been 2, 1, 2, 1, 3, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 2, 1, 1, 6, 2, 4, 3, 2, 3. That six-shot game against the Kings produced a goal, but in 14 of his 19 appearances he has been limited to two shots or fewer.
For a top-six center logging heavy minutes, that kind of volume makes it tough to keep the goals coming. Miller turns 34 in March, and the wear and tear is starting to show in the way his game is evolving. He was a dynamic offensive force when he first returned to New York, but that version has surfaced only in stretches.
The frustration showed up late in the Edmonton game, too. Miller was handed a 10-minute misconduct at the end after also taking a retaliatory slash penalty on Mattias Ekholm.
The Rangers now head to Calgary, and then finish the trip in Vancouver. If New York is going to get moving again, it needs more from its captain - not just in possession, but in actual finishing.
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Roslovics recent run hit a snag when he missed a game because of a lower-body injury, and the issue came on the heels of a seven-game point streak ending in a loss to the Canadiens. Toronto has leaned on him heavily even as he has dealt with nagging injuries, and his absence against the Devils only underscored how important he has become to the lineup. The bigger question now is how long the Maple Leafs can keep getting by without one of their most efficient finishers if this keeps lingering. [Read more 🡒]