It’s time the Rangers committed to JT Miller

AP Photo/Bill Kostroun

You know that kid J.T. Miller? He’s quite good at this thing they call hockey. Miller has surely, finally established himself as a New York Ranger and is fast becoming (if he hasn’t already) a Rangers fan favourite with his all-action, never stop style. He’s also going to get paid this summer.

Given the sudden surge in his development this season, and despite the way the Rangers are hard pressed against the cap, the Rangers need to go against their usual process and think long term with Miller when discussing a new deal this summer. Sure, there’s a lot of hockey left in the season (we hope) and things could change, but there really is no reason the Rangers should be thinking ‘bridge deal’ when it comes to Miller.

Last summer the Rangers inked Miller to what has now become an absolute bargain one year $874k contract. It was arguably put up or shut up time for the inconsistent but still talented Miller. With 21 goals and 20 assists this season (and counting), Miller has put up. He has played physical, he’s getting better in his own zone and he has certainly developed offensively – with more growth to come. He’s done all this even though he has again been moved around the line-up quite a bit by Alain Vigneault (hey, who hasn’t right?).

In a season of maddening inconsistency, underwhelming performances from most of the big names and in a year that has offered more reason for scepticism for the future than it has optimism, Miller has been a rare reason for long term hope for the fanbase. For the most part he’s outplayed most of the other younger core roster players such as Kevin Hayes and Chris Kreider.

Miller has shown enough this year to suggest that he finally ‘gets it’. As a restricted free agent, the Rangers still have control over Miller’s future but this isn’t a time to play (too much) hard ball with one of the better younger players on the roster and the one that has shown the sharpest learning curve throughout the year. The Rangers usually go bridge – as they did with the likes of Chris Kreider and Jesper Fast – but slightly overpaying Miller now, would be the best course of action for the long term.

Let’s say the Rangers give him a two year bridge deal paying him 2m per year. In two years time, Miller has had back to back 50 point seasons (completely realistic projections) and at 25 is likely a three time 20 goal scorer looking for his first long term deal. Good luck getting that contract under 6m per year Jeff Gorton.

Teams such as the Florida Panthers (think Nick Bjugstad and Alex Barkov) have gone down this path a lot in recent times – overpaying talent in the short term to control the long term – and I’m not a great fan of significantly overpaying for relatively small bodies of work but if the money is sensible the Rangers need to go down this route with Miller.

The young American forward has the makings of a long term Ranger; he has 60 point potential (maybe more?) and the potential to be a disruptive force on every shift. Would (spitballing here) a 6 year $25m contract look like good value in 2 or 3 years time when Miller is peaking? It sure would.

Right now maybe a 4 to $5m per year contract is too rich for Miller’s production and (still) slightly inconsistent game, but even with cap issues on the immediate horizon the Rangers need to find a way to lock down Miller long term even if it means going against organisational policy. The Rangers have a lot of turnover coming their way over the next summer or two. It would be nice if a homegrown, emerging stud such as JT Miller would be locked down amid all the presumptive change.