The Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers are currently dealing with the same problem, and a K’Andre Miller trade might be the easiest way to resolve the issue.
Miller, 25, is a pending restricted free agent whose name has been dangled in trade rumors for a long time now, dating back as far as last season.
According to Cam Robinson of EliteProspects, the Rangers are letting other NHL teams know that Miller is available via trade at this week’s scouting combine ahead of the 2025 NHL Draft.
As a restricted free agent, of course, the Flyers and other teams can simply bypass a Miller trade altogether and instead opt to sign the former first-round pick to an offer sheet when free agency opens on July 1.
At the same time, if the Flyers wanted to guarantee Miller’s signature, they can beat other teams to the punch with a trade. In that case, they would have to weigh their trade offer against the compensation they would pay the Rangers from an offer sheet, which depends on Miller’s salary from the offer sheet.
The Flyers have a similar situation growing in their hands, as an RFA defenseman of their own, Cam York, is in need of a new contract.
The issue is that, according to Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff, York’s camp and the Flyers have yet to make meaningful progress on a contract extension.
One thing the Flyers and Rangers can offer each other that few other teams can is a direct swap of their two disgruntled defenders, who come with different sizes and skillsets.
York, 24, was drafted 14th overall by the Flyers in the 2019 NHL Draft with the intention of developing him into a premier two-way defenseman with high-end offensive chops. To this point, though, York’s best season has seen him produce 10 goals and 30 points while operating primarily as a safety valve for the buccaneering Travis Sanheim, who’s scored 18 goals and 74 points over the last two seasons.
Miller, on the other hand, already has a 40-point season under his belt, scoring nine goals and 43 points in the 2022-23 season. At 6-foot-5, Miller is much larger than York and would be a much better alternative to a bottom-pairing player with little scoring upside like Nicolas Hague.
The former 22nd overall pick has played his best hockey alongside Adam Fox, a heady, highly intelligent puck-mover with an elite offensive skillset.
So, while the Flyers don’t have an Adam Fox on their team, it’s possible Miller could unlock a player like Jamie Drysdale.
Among all defense pairings that played 300 minutes together, Miller and Fox led the NHL with an expected goals percentage of 66.7%. In terms of generating offense, the duo led the league with 4.11 expected goals for per 60 minutes, per MoneyPuck.
If you’re the Flyers, and you consider how average the team has been in the scoring department, trading Miller has to be intriguing, to say the least.
Another thing to consider: in 2024-25, the Flyers were 30th in the league in scoring from defensemen with just 132 points coming from the blueline. Only San Jose and Boston were worse. Just 25.1% of the Flyers’ assists came from defensemen this season, which was 31st in the NHL ahead of only Dallas.
With John Tortorella and Brad Shaw out of town, and with Rick Tocchet building an entirely new coaching staff, there are no guarantees York will continue to insulate Sanheim on a regular basis.
That change alone could further drive Sanheim’s scoring down and force the Flyers to deploy a more traditional partnership between left- and right-shot defenders. And Miller’s size and skill are things the Flyers don’t have on their defense aside from Sanheim.
If management insists on having a hulking cast of rearguards for future playoff runs, Miller is a great place to start if changes are made.
A trade between division rivals is hard to come by these days, but perhaps the Flyers and Rangers could find some motivation to find an agreement ahead of the 2025 NHL Draft later this month.
It’s worth noting, too, that Miller and Flyers trade target Marco Rossi share an agent in Ian Pulver. It would be worth Philadelphia’s while to consider killing two birds with one stone and address two big roster holes before free agency even opens.
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