Rangers agree to two-year deal with emerging defenseman K’Andre Miller
12.1s040.Rangers-MAIN.xml
The Rangers signed restricted free agent defenseman K’Andre Miller to a two-year deal with an average annual value of $3.872 million on Tuesday.
Miller, who is entering his fourth NHL season, will be a RFA with arbitration rights when the contract expires after the 2024-25 season.
With Miller now under contract, the Rangers’ final in-house order of business will be to sign their last RFA, Alexis Lafreniere, who is also expected to receive a two-year deal.
Based on the projected 22-man roster, the Rangers have approximately just over $3 million left to sign Lafreniere.
That means the former first-overall pick in 2020 will likely sign for two years with an average annual value in the range of $2.5 million-$2.7 million.
According to PuckPedia, Miller will receive $2.748 million in base salary with a $350,000 signing bonus the first year before it inflates to a salary of $4.646 million the next.
When the contract expires, his max potential qualifying offer will be that same $4.646 million.
Rangers agreed to a two-year contract with K’Andre Miller. AP
“He’s an extremely talented, terrific, young player who’s been in the organization since the draft and we hope he’s here for a long, long time,” Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury said of Miller at the beginning of the month.
Coming off a career year in which he had nine goals and 34 assists in 79 games, Miller has morphed into a crucial top-four defenseman for the Rangers.
The No. 22-overall pick in 2018 has been logging over 20 minutes a night since his NHL debut in January 2020.
Toward the end of his second season, however, Miller began to find his offensive stride.
After scoring seven goals and dishing out 13 assists in 82 regular-season games in 2021-22, Miller was a force in the playoffs and posted two goals and five assists in 20 games.
Miller had his fair share of ups and downs this past season, in which he continued primarily to play alongside Rangers captain Jacob Trouba on the team’s second defensive pair.
There may have been an overemphasis on offense at times, which occasionally cost him on defense.
Still, between the way Miller eats up minutes, his potential upside on offense and his long reach/stride, the Rangers prioritized retaining the 23-year-old.
It is believed that Miller’s camp did not seek offer sheets from other teams during this process.
To put the deal into context, the Avalanche’s Bowen Byram, who was drafted No. 4 overall in 2019, recently signed a two-year, $7.7 million deal that carries a cap hit of $3.85 million.
K’Andre Miller handles the puck for the Rangers. Getty Images
The 22-year-old blueliner is entering his fourth NHL season and plays a similar role for Colorado as Miller does for the Rangers, but has appeared in 150 less games and accumulated 32 less points.
Miller will be making just $22,000 more than Byram when the 2023-24 season rolls around.
Similarly, the Islanders signed Noah Dobson to a three-year, $12 million deal with a cap hit of $4 million last August.
For Miller, a two-year contract was certainly more appealing.
The 6-foot-5 215-pounder can now re-up when he’s made more of an impact on the Rangers and there’s more money to spare, or potentially sign long term with another team if that’s not an option in New York.
Source: New York Post
