Another loss in classic 2025-2026 Rangers fashion. Take a lead, take their foot off the gas, then collapse. The veterans who are leading the ice time night in and night out did not get the job done, and it led to another loss on home ice in embarrassing fashion. JT Miller, back to his NHL ways after a strong Olympics, left his defensive effort in Milan, ceding the OT winner to Matvei Michkov . Miller should be placed on LTIR for the rest of the year, and honestly stripped of his captaincy this offseason. This has been an unmitigated disaster with him as captain, and he doesn’t understand you lead by example, not words.
Words cannot describe my disdain for JT Miller running the show here. Night in and night out, he visibly mails it in, he has no answers to the questions he’s faced in the media–something a captain at the bare minimum should have the capacity to do,– he doesn’t back check, and his attitude is not a good example for the kids. With 4 years left and $8 million per year, I don’t see how the Rangers resolve this issue.
As for the Rangers, after weeks of watching best on best hockey from both tournaments, reality set back in, and hard. The Rangers looked as disorganized as ever, as devoid of talent as ever, and like they were completely going through the motions just to get the season over with. The returns of Igor Shesterkin and Adam Fox were not enough, though they both looked great last night in their returns.
With so much uncertainty surrounding the roster, don’t take for granted how long we may see certain guys play for the Rangers, including Fox after his postgame comments. Others rightfully should be dealt sooner rather than later, but franchise best players might not want to stick around for the re-tool, and we can all blame our favorite GM for souring relationships left and right in the locker room for that.
Do you ever get the feeling you are just living out your worst nightmare? That’s what it feels like watching this Rangers team night in and night out. The future is bleak, the young players on the roster are not bonafide game breakers, and the supposed “core” veterans are making post game comments with the media that sound like they might not want to be around much longer. This is about as close to a replication of the dark ages that I think we will ever see. Too much has to go right for the team to have success, and that is no way to run a hockey team. Can we just simulate the rest of the games and call it a season?
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