Rangers star ‘so proud’ of J.T. Miller handling ups, downs in 1st year as captain
Back in September, when the New York Rangers named J. T. Miller the 29th captain in franchise history ahead of their Centennial campaign in the NHL, no one would’ve predicted just how sideways the 2025-26 season would go — individually for the player nor collectively for the team.
To say it wasn’t exactly the fairytale most envisioned is a gross understatement. Miller battled injuries all season, from training camp on, and saw his production drop considerably. A 100-point producer just two seasons ago with the Vancouver Canucks, Miller is fifth on the Rangers with 50 points (17 goals, 33 assists) in 64 games.
What weighs even more on Miller is that the Rangers missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second straight season, and sit last in the Eastern Conference despite a strong run down the stretch recently. So, if it’s already a difficult task to wear the captain’s C on the Blueshirt for an Original 6 team, you can just imagine the burden Miller’s carried during this disappointing season. But one of the other key veteran leaders on the team, the current longest tenured player on the Rangers roster Mika Zibanejad , believes Miller’s done a commendable job considering all the negative circumstances this season.
“It’s not been the easiest year to have your first year [as captain] the way the team’s been playing and the results we’ve been having and you look at the standings. A lot of credit to how he’s been trying to deal with it,” Zibanejad said Tuesday after practice. Brad Penner-Imagn Images Zibanejad knows a thing or two about the pressures of delivering in New York, and carrying the weight of expectations and disappointment around during a failed season.
Just a year ago, Zibanejad, an alternate captain, was largely the face of a stunning freefall by the Rangers, when they became the fourth team in NHL history to win the Presidents’ Trophy one season and fail to qualify for the playoffs the next. It was painful to watch Zibanejad most of the 2024-25 season, just seeing how down and unhappy he was with himself and the team’s situation. To his credit, the 32-year-old bounced back this season, and Zibanejad leads the Rangers with 33 goals and 75 points in 77 games, despite the lack of team success.