J.T. Miller trade grades for Rangers, Canucks

What seemed inevitable for months finally became reality Friday night, when the New York Rangers acquired J.T. Miller from the Vancouver Canucks in a multi-player trade. Miller’s reunion with the team that drafted him in the first round (No. 15 overall) in 2011 is a major swing by the Rangers, who boosted their chances of reaching the Stanley Cup Playoffs with this big trade.
The Rangers (24-22-4) enter their game against the Boston Bruins on Saturday 13th in the Eastern Conference, five points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning for the second wild and seven in arrears of the surprising Columbus Blue Jackets for the top wild card. A 4-15-0 stretch in November and December nearly submarined their season, but a 10-game point streak (7-0-3) in January has got them back in the playoff picture.
The Miller trade is the third one made by general manager Chris Drury this season as he sought to change the look of New York’s core. Will Borgen, acquired from the Seattle Kraken for forward Kaapo Kakko, is now an important part of the top four on defense and already earned a five-year, $20.5 million contract extension. Defenseman Urho Vaakainen, who arrived from the Anaheim Ducks in the Jacob Trouba trade, is a regular on the third defense pair.
But those trades pale in comparison to adding Miller, a potential game changer for the Rangers.
Related: Rangers Daily – J.T. Miller trade fallout; Canucks add another Pettersson
Grading New York Rangers acquisition of J.T. Miller

In all honesty, it’s not fair to grade a trade right after it happens. No one can say for sure how things will play out for Miller in New York, there are a myriad of factors that can take place this season and in the years to come.
But, based on what we know and believe right this second, let’s hand out some grades. It’s a fun project. And trust me, we will be revisiting and reevaluating this trade for years to come.
New York Rangers trade grade: B+
This grade has the potential to rise or fall significantly. But right now, B+ seems a fair grade for the Rangers.
They received the best player by far in the trade, and didn’t mortgage their future or tear apart the roster to do so. Unlike Filip Chytil, another former first-round pick by the Rangers who was dealt to the Canucks in this trade, Miller is both durable and consistently productive. He’s scored 20+ goals seven times, including 30+ each of the past three seasons. Like his buddy Chris Kreider, Miller is getting much better as he gets older. His three most productive seasons have come in succession with the Canucks, including an NHL career-high 103 points last season.
Miller is a skilled playmaker and brings physicality and attitude to the Rangers forward group. When he’s on, Miller is a bull, one who’s equally powerful and quick on his skates. His addition makes the Rangers extremely deep down the middle with Mika Zibanejad and Vincent Trocheck — that’s a handful for the opposition. And maybe that jumpstarts Zibanejad if he’s freed up now from playing against other teams’ top forwards.
With Miller and Trocheck, the Rangers also have two of the top face-off men in the League, an underrated but important part of why this is such a good trade for New York.
An abrasive personality, yet at the same time a largely likeable teammate, Miller will shake up the vanilla Rangers core. He brings an edge on and off the ice. The Rangers need that just as much, if not more, than his vast skill set.
There’s reason for concern, of course, too. Miller turns 32 next month and his $8 million annual contract through 2029-30 likely won’t look so pretty down the road. The question is — and the reason why final trade grades take years to properly figure out — when will that eventual downturn take place and how much will Miller and the Rangers accomplish before then?
Miller dipped to nine goals and 35 points in 40 games this season and his commitment to playing defense is often in question. That 10-game leave of absence for personal reasons earlier this season certainly raises a red flag — as does his role in whatever went on with teammate Elias Pettersson in Vancouver, which precipitated this trade in the first place.
But at the end of the day, the Rangers landed a perfect fit for their lineup and locker room, landed one of the best players on the market and did so for a nice price. This one’s a win for the Rangers.
If defenseman Erik Brannstrom finally comes close to what was expected of him when he was a first-round pick (No. 15 overall) by the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017, then this trade grade would jump right up into the A category.
Vancouver Canucks trade grade: C+

The Canucks were in a brutal position here and ultimately had to take a below-market return for one of their best players. Canucks president Jim Rutherford went on the record to state that the Miller-Pettersson situation was untenable, so everyone in the League knew one of the star centers had to go. That didn’t help Vancouver’s negotiating stance. Neither did Miller owning a full no-move clause. Miller reportedly only wanted to go to a team in the Northeast and pretty much steered the Canucks to the Rangers.
But the Canucks received Chytil, defenseman Victor Mancini and a protected first-round pick in the 2025 draft. They already traded that pick to the Pittsburgh Penguins to help land defenseman Marcus Pettersson (can’t have enough Petterssons in Vancouver; the Canucks now have three). So, that already makes this a bit of a better return, at least in the short run, for the Canucks.
Chytil is the X-factor in this trade. At 25, Chytil still hasn’t reached his prime and he certainly flashed this season and years prior for the Rangers. But injuries — especially concussions — have slowed his progress and nearly derailed his career. The fear here is that one more head injury and Chytil’s career could come to a premature end.
He’s never topped 22 goals nor 45 points in a season, but Chytil’s never really been a top-six regular either. He should get that chance in Vancouver. Perhaps, like the early results from Kakko in Seattle, Chytil’s game will take off with the Canucks. Here’s hoping so. He’s a talented player and an even better teammate.
The need to keep Mancini in New York decreased when Borgen signed his extension. That put three right-hand shots on the blue line in New York ahead of Mancini, who could get a better chance with the Canucks. He showed flashes offensively as an early-season success story before his defensive game cratered. But he’s a good add for the Canucks, who also made the savvy play by acquiring Pettersson. They haven’t given up on this season yet, and may have saved it by cleaning up an ugly distraction with Miller and Elias Pettersson.
It’s a C+ despite trading away the best player in the deal, mainly because of the obstacles the Canucks faced.
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