The Rangers made a bunch of moves yesterday after 5pm. First, the JT Miller injury was a fitting beginning to the end of the Rangers season. This whole year has been a disaster for Miller and the Rangers, and we all had a feeling he might wind up on IR at some point. In response, the Rangers recalled both Jaro Chmelar and Juuso Parssinen, reassigning Brendan Brisson and Scott Morrow to clear roster space. As per usual, I have thoughts.
On the JT Miller injury
1. The JT Miller injury is annoying. We watched the “captain” toil around and barely care, giving the worst postgame quotes and coming dangerously close to blaming fans for booing the Rangers during the Columbus game. To be fair, I don’t think he actually blamed fans, but it came off that way and–when coupled with everything else he’s done this season–it’s hard to give him the benefit of the doubt.
As pointed out in the comments (thanks LongTimeOneTime for keeping me honest), Miller did take a shot to the back of the head. So this is probably unrelated to his injury from the beginning of the year, but it’s also very hard to ignore that Miller played hurt so he could go to the Olympics.
Trying to be objective – the JT Miller injury is annoying because of everything else that happened this season.
2. The good news is the JT Miller injury does actually help the tank. He may not have been good at all this year, and boy was he terrible, but he was still a better option in the top six than most other players. The Rangers are most likely trading Vincent Trocheck by Friday’s trade deadline as well, which means we have two top six players who are going to be taken out of the lineup.
As mentioned multiple times, the Rangers don’t have the talent in the system to find replacement scoring due to the JT Miller injury. Trocheck getting moved, plus this JT Miller injury, certainly helps the tank.
3. Noah Laba will probably move up to 2C once Trocheck is moved. Expect Conor Sheary to move into the top six as well due to the JT Miller injury, assuming he isn’t traded as well. This will probably lead to a lot of complaining, but there’s really no one else to move into Miller’s spot.
On Chmelar and Parssinen
4. Due to the JT Miller injury, Sheary is–as of the writing of this post–the best candidate in the short term to fill in the top six. If it were me, I’d move Will Cuylle up to LW with Mika Zibanejad and Gabe Perreault. Assuming Laba moves up to the 2C role and Trocheck is held out of the lineup on Thursday, then Alexis Lafreniere would stick as the 2RW with Laba and Sheary.
It’s not ideal and it may not even last more than a period or two. But for now, Chmelar should be viewed as a bottom six forward. He just doesn’t have the scoring touch to move into the top six, and setting him up for success is far more important than any issues with Sheary in the top six.
And no, Parssinen is not a top six forward. He’s barely an NHL forward. He looked good in Hartford once he got his legs back after his injury, so there’s that.
5. Another annoying move: Calling up Parssinen instead of Brett Berard, but it’s also fair to note that even before the JT Miller injury and the upcoming Trocheck trade, Berard struggled in a bottom six role. Now with both (likely) out, Berard would be thrust into a bigger role, one that he simply hasn’t shown he can handle right now. Annoying is the word of the day, and this is just another example of something annoying with the Rangers this season.
6. Once the trade deadline passes, and assuming the Rangers play it safe with the JT Miller injury, then there will be a few roster spots to fill at the top half of the lineup. This is where we should see the kids play. At the very least, Cuylle and Perreault should keep their spots for the rest of the season. If Chmelar looks good on Thursday, perhaps that’s the best time to move him into a top six role. But only if he looks good and looks ready.
Playing kids in top six roles is great. But forcing them into top six roles when they don’t have the skill sets is bad. The Rangers have a terrible history with developing players so it’s easy to doubt the process. I doubt the process too. But at this point, we can either hope for the best or continue to complain about how this team is being run into the ground.