The New York Rangers played very well against a red hot Columbus Blue Jackets team last night, winning 1-0 in a shootout. But while the game was being played, many rumors broke about a rumored JT Miller trade that, at one point, was imminent before all of a sudden it wasn’t. Rumors and updates came from every direction, with even more speculation and guessing that followed.

What we know about the rumored JT Miller trade

1. First and foremost, we know that a rumored JT Miller trade got to a point where Miller was almost healthy scratched last night for Vancouver. While we don’t have confirmation it was the Rangers, Elliotte Friedman suggested that it could have been the Rangers, and it was his guess. That’s the speculation aspect.

2. We know that Bo Groulx, Adam Sykora, and Jaroslav Chmelar were all healthy scratched for the Hartford Wolf Pack last night. We also know that, per Rick Dhaliwal, only two of them were possibly involved in the rumored JT Miller trade. Hartford voluntarily played 10 forwards and 8 defensemen last night.

3. We know that Miller was not asked to waive his no-move clause last night.

4. We know that, in the past, Chris Drury has turned down several trades involving Braden Schneider.

5. We know that Vancouver has turned down a Mika Zibanejad/JT Miller swap, one for one.

6. The Rangers have enough cap space right now to absorb all of Miller’s contract without subtracting from the NHL roster. Next year’s cap is going up more than expected, as the escrow payments have indeed been cancelled and will be refunded

What we are logically guessing about the rumored JT Miller trade

7. While Vancouver has turned down a Zibanejad/Miller swap, there is no news regarding a package involving Zibanejad. Zibanejad has not been asked to waive his no-move. It’s also unlikely he would waive for Vancouver.

8. Alexis Lafreniere would not be involved in any rumored JT Miller trade. Any article suggesting this should be taken with a very large grain of salt.

9. Miller probably doesn’t need to be asked to waive his no-move clause for the Rangers because it’s assumed he will be perfectly fine with it. But him playing last night suggests the rumored JT Miller trade fell through. As of the writing of this post, there are no notable scratches for Hartford to suggest otherwise.

10. Given all this, it does seem a third team would have to be involved. Vancouver is in win-now mode, and taking futures like Chmelar/Sykora (Groulx is just a body in terms of trade value) would signal less of a retool and more of an accelerated rebuild. If we assume Zibanejad isn’t waiving for Vancouver and Vincent Trocheck isn’t going anywhere, that leaves Filip Chytil as the NHL body going the other way.

Chytil, Chmelar, and Sykora for JT Miller would be a disaster of a trade. Ditto anything involving Lafreniere, as mentioned above.

This is why it feels like a third team likely would have been involved. Cap space isn’t really the issue, so any rumors involving a third team was likely due to value and/or pieces being moved. This seems to be the case given the futures the Rangers scratched last night in Hartford.

11. As far as we know, the rumored JT Miller trade is dead. Naturally this could change, and we will have some indication when Hartford announces their scratches today. It does not appear the Rangers will have anyone scratched at the NHL level, since we likely would have heard about that last night too.

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