The New York Rangers have had two great games from star center J.T. Miller after acquiring him from the Vancouver Canucks.
Miller made his debut for his second tour of duty with the Blueshirts on Saturday, scoring two goals against the Boston Bruins, then adding a pair of assists Sunday against the Vegas Golden Knights.
It’s hard to think of a better return to the Rangers for Miller, but make no mistake – this is still a flawed team. Acquiring Miller doesn’t address what’s really wrong with this squad.
Related: New York Rangers Take Advantage Of Vancouver’s Saga To Bring Back J.T. Miller
The Rangers did beat Vegas Sunday, but before that, they lost 5-4 to the Colorado Avalanche, 4-0 to the Carolina Hurricanes and 6-3 to the Bruins. Producing offense wasn’t their biggest problem. It was their defense that allowed 15 goals in that span, and only one of them was an empty-netter.
The Rangers are 20th in the NHL in goals against per game, allowing 3.08. Their 2.98 goals-for per game is 14th. Miller will help them improve on offense, but Rangers GM Chris Drury should be shaking the trees to seek help in their own zone.
Star goalie Igor Shesterkin hasn’t had an ideal season, posting a 2.89 GAA and a .907 save percentage in 37 appearances. But he hasn’t had much help from a Rangers blueline that’s had many turnstile-like performances this year. While the acquisition of veteran Will Borgen from Seattle has worked out well, there remain legitimate questions about what this Rangers team is capable of defensively.
Only Adam Fox, K’Andre Miller and Borgen haven’t been outshot at 5-on-5, and even Borgen is being outchanced, according to naturalstattrick.com. The third pair of Urho Vaakanainen or Zac Jones with Braden Schneider is allowing the most shot attempts against per 60 minutes on the team, according to moneypuck.com.
If the Rangers beat the odds and make the Stanley Cup playoffs, they’re almost assuredly going to be a wild-card team. Does anyone think their ‘D’ will be anything other than Swiss cheese if they’re going up against elite offenses like those of the Washington Capitals, Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers or Toronto Maple Leafs? No, they’re going to be dominated.
They need another trade addition on the back end. But which defensive defenseman on the trade block can satisfy the Rangers’ specific need? In this writer’s opinion, there aren’t many, if any. Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Ivan Provorov surfaced in trade rumors earlier in the season, but they’re in a wild-card spot right now, five points ahead of the Rangers. Rasmus Ristolainen on the Philadelphia Flyers has also been a trade rumor topic, but GM Daniel Briere said Ristolainen has been good for the team, and he’s not shopping him.
The Rangers aren’t exactly teeming with elite prospects to dangle in a trade, either. They have two first-rounders in the next three drafts, but it will take a lot to outbid other teams for needle-moving defensive defensemen and convince a squad to trade that type of player.
Related: Three Big Things We’ve Learned From Multiple NHL Trades This Week
There’s still time for Rangers coach Peter Laviolette to figure out how to turn around his team’s defense, but he has to do it soon. The Rangers also have to hope the five teams in front of them in the wild-card race fall apart.
Miller certainly wasn’t a bad acquisition. It was a pretty solid trade for them. But the Rangers’ defensive deficiencies are rather obvious, and no team will rescue them.
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