{"id":3294,"date":"2025-06-21T20:37:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T20:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/3294\/"},"modified":"2025-06-21T20:37:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T20:37:08","slug":"strong-market-developing-for-kandre-miller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/3294\/","title":{"rendered":"Strong Market Developing For K\u2019Andre Miller"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the Rangers opened up over $6MM in cap space when they moved Chris Kreider<\/a><\/strong> to Anaheim, they\u2019re still expected to continue shaking up their roster.\u00a0 One of the potential casualties has long been speculated to be defenseman K\u2019Andre Miller<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 Daily Faceoff\u2019s Frank Seravalli reports<\/a> that between 12 and 15 teams have inquired about the 25-year-old.<\/p>\n

Miller is a pending restricted free agent and is coming off a bridge contract that saw him carry a cap charge of $3.872MM.\u00a0 However, the back-loaded structure of that agreement makes it that his required qualifying offer is $4.646MM while also giving him salary arbitration eligibility.\u00a0 The belief has been that the Rangers aren\u2019t prepared to give him a long-term deal while a short-term agreement takes him that much closer to testing unrestricted free agency, something he\u2019s eligible for in 2027.<\/p>\n

Before the Kreider trade, Miller was a speculative offer sheet candidate, knowing that New York still needs to re-sign winger Will Cuylle<\/a><\/strong> while wanting to add via free agency or trades.\u00a0 The Kreider trade lessens that risk to an extent as the Rangers now have $13.1MM in cap space, per PuckPedia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Two years ago, it appeared as if the 25-year-old had taken a big step toward becoming an all-around key piece on New York\u2019s back end.\u00a0 That season, Miller notched a career-best 43 points (including 38 at even strength) while logging nearly 22 minutes per game.\u00a0 But their cap situation at the time necessitated the bridge deal, something that might ultimately have worked out for the best for the team given what has happened since then.<\/p>\n

Miller\u2019s play took a step back in 2023-24 with his production dropping to 30 points while there were more defensive miscues than desired.\u00a0 This season, it was more of the same.\u00a0 His output dropped to just 27 points in 74 games while the defensive slipups were more frequent as the Rangers went from a projected preseason contender to a team that ultimately missed the playoffs altogether.<\/p>\n

Despite that, Miller has five NHL seasons under his belt as a top-four defender.\u00a0 He\u2019s willing to throw the body around (with over 100 hits in four straight seasons) and block shots, and as his 2022-23 performance showed, he has some offensive skills.\u00a0 Between that, a 6\u20195 frame, and being a strong skater, there\u2019s a lot to work with which is why close to half the league has apparently kicked the tires on his availability, believing that a change of scenery and a new coach could help him get back to his previous form.<\/p>\n

That certainly bodes well for GM Chris Drury.\u00a0 With the UFA market for defensemen not being particularly deep and Miller heading toward his prime years, it appears that the Rangers should be able to get a strong trade return for the blueliner although they\u2019ll have an additional key roster spot to try to fill if and when a move gets made.\u00a0 But with a goal of continuing to shake up the core group in New York, this appears to be an increasingly viable way to do just that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While the Rangers opened up over $6MM in cap space when they moved Chris Kreider to Anaheim, they\u2019re…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3295,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[4348,1302,293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-3294","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-kandre-miller","9":"tag-new-york-rangers","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114723281050794550","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}