Leading through the retool: Miller remains positive as Rangers' season winds down

It was a night that was not dissimilar to so many others this season.

The Rangers had dropped a hockey game, this one a 5-3 loss to the Sabres on Wednesday night at the Garden that closed the book on the home portion of the 2025-26 season. They have two games left after Saturday night's game in Dallas.

Standing at his stall inside the dressing room, J.T. Miller was asked to analyze what had transpired. For not the first time in the course of six months-plus, he stressed the positive.

“We played a pretty darn good game,” Miller said. “[The Sabres are] one of the better teams in the league, and I thought we outplayed them for a good stretch there going into the third period . . . Another step in the right direction for us.”

In what initially was designed to be a year-long celebration of the franchise’s legendary players and coaches and seminal moments, the Rangers’ centennial season metamorphosed into an operational reconstruction focused on the future.

General manager Chris Drury published a letter to the fan base through the Rangers’ social media channels on Jan. 16 that announced his plan to “retool” around “core players and prospects.”

While the ultimate result of the project is still to be determined, it is evident that Miller affects both the organization’s present and future.

Entering Saturday, MIller had compiled a slash line of 17 goals and 35 assists for 51 points in 1316:25 of ice time spanning 65 games.

He ranked fifth on the Rangers in goals and assists, sixth in points and seventh in ice time.

To put Miller’s statistical output in context, he has battled injuries since training camp, when the 33-year-old suffered a lower-body injury. He has had two subsequent stints on injured reserve during the season with upper-body injuries.

Dating to the 2014-15 season, Miller has recorded 20 goals, 50 points and at least 1300 minutes of ice time in a season eight times each. He also has had 10 seasons of at least 30 assists.

So Miller’s statistical output in 2025-26 is following established career trends.

But individual performance and team results don’t operate in vacuums.

To wit: The Rangers are 33-37-9 and have earned 75 out of a possible 158 points this season. Their .475 points percentage is 16th in the Eastern Conference and ranks 29th out of 32 teams league-wide.

Miller, who was acquired from Vancouver on Jan. 31, 2025, to be an agent of cultural change, hasn’t been able to stem the tide.

“It sucks when you lose,” Miller said.

A vocal subset of fans and pundits have allocated blame for the way the season has unfolded, and Miller — who was named the 29th captain in franchise history on Sept. 16 — has not been immune to criticism.

That has prompted Mika Zibanejad and coach Mike Sullivan to argue there are external factors that have not considered. Specifically, the responsibilities of being the captain.

“He’s done a really good job,” Zibanejad said. “I feel like he puts a lot of responsibility and he takes a lot. At times I feel like too much. You can tell how much he wants to be the right leader for us. He wants to do everything.”

Including advising.

After a recent practice, Sullivan praised the example Miller and Zibanejad — among others — are setting with young players on the roster, something that Gabe Perreault and Noah Laba, independently of the other, mentioned to Newsday earlier in the season as being key to their development.

“The best players have an insatiable appetite to continue to be a better version of themselves. I see it in guys like Mika and J.T.,” Sullivan said. “They want to improve and get better and grow.”

Although Sullivan talked about individual growth and Miller offered thoughts about the team’s improvement, he essentially echoed the coach.

“I look at it as a bigger sample size over the last little while,” Miller said. “We played a lot of good hockey and we want to end the season strong.”