The New York Rangers are eight days away from kicking off their 2025-26 regular season at home against the rival Pittsburgh Penguins.
Anticipation is high as the Blueshirts look to bounce back from a dismal 2024-25 that ended with them missing the playoffs.
J.T. Miller was set to begin his first full season back in New York, and this time around with the C on his sweater as the 29th captain in franchise history.
Unfortunately, an injury might have just thrown a slight wrench into those plans, as Miller appeared to hurt himself when lunging for a puck during a power play drill at Monday's practice. Team reporter Vince Z. Mercogliano shared a clip of the play and Miller gingerly working his way off the ice on X (formerly Twitter).
Oh no: Miller went lunging to save a puck here and came up favoring his leg. You can see he’s in pain and he heads off to the locker room. #NYR pic.twitter.com/poxnzlOFNk
— Vince Z. Mercogliano (@vzmercogliano) September 29, 2025
The 32-year-old was great in 32 games upon returning to the Rangers, racking up 35 points (13 goals, 22 assists) in that span. Miller is poised to enter the third season of the seven-year, $56 million contract extension he signed with the Canucks back in 2022.
Miller is being evaluated
With concern mounting among New York Rangers fans online, we received somewhat of an update on the status of J.T. Miller following practice.
Team reporter Peter Baugh shared on X what head coach Mike Sullivan had to say about his star center.
"Mike Sullivan doesn’t have an update on J.T. Miller. He said he’s being evaluated," Baugh wrote.
Mike Sullivan doesn’t have an update on J.T. Miller. He said he’s being evaluated.
— Peter Baugh (@Peter_Baugh) September 29, 2025
Everyone is obviously hoping for the best, as Miller is one of, if not the most important, players on the Rangers.
The good thing is that the veteran has been very durable throughout his career, particularly in recent years, rarely missing any game action due to injury.
Either way, this is a situation that fans will have to keep an eye on as we inch closer to puck drop on the start of the 2025-26 season.