New York Rangers injury update: K’Andre Miller lands on IR in latest hit to defense corps
K’Andre Miller was placed on injured reserve by the New York Rangers on Friday. The Rangers say the 24-year-old defenseman has an upper-body injury and will miss their home game Saturday against the Los Angeles Kings and at least the start of a three-game road trip, which begins Sunday in St. Louis against the Blues.
Miller sustained the injury during New York’s 3-2 win at the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday. He did not come out for the third period and later was ruled out the rest of the game.
In his fifth NHL season, Miller has been extremely durable for the Rangers. He played 80 games last season and missed only three the since 2021-22, when he played all 82 games.
Connor Mackey was recalled from Hartford of the American Hockey League and skated on the second defense pair alongside Braden Schneider at practice Friday. The other pairs remained intact: Adam Fox with Ryan Lindgren and rookie Victor Mancini with Zac Jones.
“For me, nothing new changes,” Mackey explained following practice. “I’m not going to change the way I play. They called me up because of my play at Hartford … bring some physicality, be good in the D zone, good box-outs, good breakouts, just being firm with all of my plays.”
Miller’s are big skates to fill. He averages more than 21 minutes per game and has been a top-four defenseman really since his rookie season in 2020-21. Though his production is down (two goals, four assists in 28 games) after a sizeable fall from 43 points to 30 in 2022-23 to last season, Miller’s loss is significant.
His game appeared to be picking up recently. He had a goal and assist in a 7-5 loss to the Seattle Kraken on Sunday and was in the midst of a strong showing against the Sabres before he got hurt. However, Miller has been on for 27 goals against 5v5 this season, more than any other Rangers player. He’s been on the ice for 21 goals for by the Rangers.
However, Miller’s xGF is 0.5003, third best among Rangers defensemen, per Natural Stat Trick.
Related: Relentless Brett Berard earning playing time with Rangers
Connor Mackey recalled by Rangers to replace injured K’Andre Miller
The Miller injury follows last week’s trade of Jacob Trouba, removing 40+ minutes TOI per night by Rangers defensemen. Schneider has taken on a bigger role since Trouba was traded and Mancini stepped into a third-pair role. But the Miller injury puts a further squeeze on the Rangers depth at the position.
Urho Vaakanainen remains on IR with an upper-body injury. The 25-year-old, acquired from the Anaheim Ducks in the Trouba trade, would likely have been the top top option to replace Miller, since he’s also a left-hand shot.
Instead, the Rangers had to dip back into the Hartford roster for a replacement, just as they did when Mancini was promoted following the trade of Trouba. Mackey has 40 games of NHL experience, including one last season with the Rangers. The 28-year-old has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) and 75 penalty minutes in the NHL.
There’s no question Mackey will add a physical element to the blue line. In his lone Rangers appearance, he got into a rousing fight with Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk in that 7-2 win on Jan. 27. He will take Miller’s spot next to Schneider and replace some of the toughness lost when Trouba was dealt away.
“He’s a big boy,” Schneider said after practice. “I think we play similar games. He plays a north, hard, physical game, and I think we’re going to have some fun. I think we’re going to make sure we’re hard to play against.”
The Rangers could have promoted Matthew Robertson, who’s also a left-shot defenseman. The 23-year-old is big (6-foot-4, 211 pounds) but not nearly as physical as Mackey, though he’s more talented offensively from the back end. Robertson has 12 points, including 11 assists, for Hartford this season.
The biggest strike against Robertson in this situation is that he’s never played a game in the NHL, which would have given New York two very inexperienced defenseman if he’d been recalled.
Apparently not in the mix is Chad Ruhwedel. The 34-year-old played one game this season and has largely been the seventh defenseman when not reassigned to Hartford. Multiple times this season, Ruhwedel has been bypassed in favor of another defenseman when there’s been an opening on the blue line.
The Rangers have six games before the holiday break, four on the road.
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