Return of J.T. Miller highlighted slew of Rangers trades during 2024-25 season
The roster that skated off the ice for the New York Rangers after their season-ending 4-0 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night had some major differences from the one that took the ice for their opening-night 6-0 victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Oct. 10 at PPG Paints Arena.
General manager Chris Drury started the moves during the offseason by waiving veteran forward Barclay Goodrow, who was quickly claimed by the San Jose Sharks, his former team. With the Rangers struggling in early December, Drury traded his captain, defenseman Jacob Trouba, to the Anaheim Ducks – and made another deal two weeks later, sending forward Kaapo Kakko, the No. 2 pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, to the Seattle Kraken.
The Rangers GM then swung for the fences on Jan. 31, bringing back former Rangers center J.T. Miller from the Vancouver Canucks in a trade that cost the Blueshirts two young players and their first-round pick in the 2025 or 2026 draft.
The week leading up to the NHL Trade Deadline on March 7 was also a busy one for Drury, who made four trades in seven days – most notably a deal that sent defenseman Ryan Lindgren and forward Jimmy Vesey to the Colorado Avalanche for veteran defenseman Calvin de Haan and center Juuso Parssinen.
But all the moves didn’t achieve the desired result – the Rangers became the fourth team in NHL history to miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the season after winning the Presidents’ Trophy as the NHL regular-season champion.
Related: 13 former Rangers playing in 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, including Mats Zuccarello
Who won, who lost in Rangers’ trades during 2024-25 season
So did Drury’s wheeling and dealing cost the Rangers a playoff berth or keep them in the hunt longer than they might have been otherwise? Or was he just shuffling bodies on a bad team? Here’s a look at his 2024-25 moves.
Dec. 6, 2024: Rangers trade defenseman Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks for defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and a fourth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft
The Rangers tried to trade Trouba during the summer but were unable to work out a deal when the the 30-year-old strategically made it impossible for a trade by invoking his no-move clause. With the veteran defenseman’s game in a state of decline and his $8 million average annual value contract lasting through 2025-26, Drury continued to look for a taker. He found one on Dec. 6 when Trouba was sent to Anaheim for Vaakanainen and a mid-round pick in 2025.
The best part of the deal for the Rangers was the fact that the Ducks took Trouba’s entire contract; the Rangers avoided having to eat any of his salary. That freed them to sign star goaltender Igor Shesterkin to an eight-year, $92 million ($11.5 million AAV) contract extension, making him the highest-paid goalie in NHL history.
The Rangers also landed Urho Vaakanainen in the trade.
Neither defenseman was an impact player with his new team, though Vaakanainen did supply some surprising offense.
Trouba had six assists and was minus-3 in 24 games with the Rangers, then had a goal and seven assists in 53 games with Anaheim, finishing minus-5. His average ice time was about the same – 20:00 with New York and 20:45 with the Ducks. He did finish second in the NHL with a combined total of 208 blocked shots.
Vaakanainen had one assist in five games with Anaheim after recovering from an injury; he put up 15 points (two goals, 13 assists) and was plus-8 in 46 games with the Rangers, mostly in a third-pair role. He averaged 16:45 of ice time, more than three minutes per game higher than with the Ducks. The Rangers signed him to a two-year, $3.1 million contract ($1.55 million AAV) on March 7.
Getting Trouba’s salary off the books was a bigger bonus for the Rangers than anything Vaakanainen did on the ice.
Dec. 18, 2024: Rangers trade forward Kaapo Kakko to the Seattle Kraken for defenseman Will Borgen plus third- and sixth-round picks in the 2025 NHL Draft
The Rangers waited five-plus seasons for Kakko to live up to his draft status as the second player chosen in the 2019 draft. He appeared to be on his way to his best season in the first few weeks of 2024-25, combining with Will Cuylle and Filip Chytil to form perhaps the best third line in the NHL.
But his production deteriorated after Chytil was injured and Cuylle moved up in the lineup, and with Trouba’s departure leaving a hole on the blue line, Drury opted to bring in Borgen, a veteran bottom-four defenseman, while giving Kakko a new opportunity in Seattle.
It was an apples-and-oranges kind of trade, one that likely left both sides happy.
Borgen formed a solid second pair with K’Andre Miller for much of the season. The 28-yearold signed a five-year, $20.5 million contract with the Rangers on Jan. 25 and finished with 13 points (four goals, nine assists) and a plus-9 rating in 51 games with New York.
But the Kraken, looking for young talent, are happy with Kakko, who had 30 points (10 goals, 20 assists) in 49 games after the trade. For the season, he finished with a career-high 44 points (14 goals, 30 assists) in 79 games – the first time he’s averaged more than half a point per game — while getting steady top-six ice time.
Jan. 31, 2025: Rangers trade center Filip Chytil, defenseman Victor Mancini and a first-round pick in the 2025 or 2026 NHL Draft to the Vancouver Canucks for center J.T. Miller and defensemen Eric Brannstrom and Jackson Dorrington
This is the one trade that looks like a solid win for the Rangers.
The Rangers brought back their No. 1 pick from the 2011 draft nearly seven years after trading him to the Tampa Bay Lightning, who wheeled him to the Canucks in June 2019. Miller became an offensive force in Vancouver, averaging more than a point a game in five-plus seasons and topping out with 103 points (37 goals, 66 assists) in 2023-24.
But with Miller and fellow center Elias Pettersson reportedly not getting along, the Canucks opted to deal Miller midway through the season, getting a package that included Chytil, an injury-prone third-line center with upside, Mancini, a rookie defenseman, and a top-13 protected first-round pick in 2025 – which the Canucks quickly traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins for defenseman Marcus Pettersson.
Miller invigorated the Rangers both on the score sheet and with his gritty style of play. He finished with 35 points (13 goals, 22 assists) in 32 games and was a big reason the Rangers got as close to the playoffs as they did. The only risk is that he’s 32 and signed to a long-term deal. But for the immediate future, there’s no reason he won’t continue to thrive.
Chytil’s path to NHL success has been derailed by injuries, including at least four concussions with the Rangers. He had six points (two goals, four assists) in 15 games for the Canucks but Chytil didn’t play after March 15, when he sustained another head injury. Mancini, who turns 23 next month, was in and out of the lineup with Vancouver, finishing with one goal and two assists in 16 games after putting up a goal and four assists in 16 games with the Rangers.
March 1, 2025: Rangers trade defenseman Ryan Lindgren, forward Jimmy Vesey and defenseman Hank Kempf to the Colorado Avalanche for defenseman Calvin de Haan, center Juuso Parssinen, plus second- and fourth-round picks in the 2025 NHL Draft
The Rangers had obviously decided they weren’t going to re-sign free agents Lindgren, a defenseman who was showing the effects of his physical style of play, and Vesey, who spent much of the season as an extra forward. Drury shipped them plus Kempf, a college defenseman, to the Avs. Lindgren averaged 19:00 in 18 games, producing two goals and an assist. Vesey was a spare part in Colorado, just as he was in New York.
It’s likely that Drury was more interested in the draft picks than the players who came to the Rangers. De Haan played just three games for the Blueshirts before being a healthy scratch for the remainder of the season. It was something de Haan wasn’t happy about, and expressed his frustrations publicly last weekend. Parssinen, who Colorado had acquired from the Nashville Predators at midseason, showed flashes of promise, putting up two goals and five points in his final three games, but the jury is still out on his future with the Rangers.
The biggest winners were Lindgren and Vesey, who found themselves on a team that has a chance to win the Stanley Cup.
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