The Rangers brought J.T. Miller back to New York to revitalize a team that had become stale and to help reset the culture in the locker room.
Now, he’ll have the title to lead the way.
Miller was named the 29th captain in franchise history Tuesday morning, days before the 32-year-old center and the rest of the Blueshirts are set to report to training camp.
It was a decision the organization felt was necessary before the start of the 2025-26 campaign.
“Since his arrival last season, J.T. immediately became a leader for our group and exemplifies how we want to conduct ourselves both on and off the ice,” Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury said in a team release. “Congratulations to J.T. and his entire family on an incredibly meaningful achievement and we’re confident he will continue to represent our organization with class, commitment, and integrity.”
This was an important anointment of leadership before veterans join the rookies on the ice Thursday for a team that had skated without a captain since Jacob Trouba was dealt to Anaheim in December.
The Rangers also bestowed the alternate captain “A” on the jerseys of Adam Fox, Vincent Trocheck, Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin.
The Rangers have named J.T. Miller their new captain. NHLI via Getty Images
The only new leadership member is Trocheck, who replaced the since-traded Chris Kreider after stepping up as a voice for the team during last season’s implosion.
There will be no extended line of questioning about naming a captain.
J.T. Miller with the Rangers in March 2025. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
There will be no uncertainty about roles.
Each player should walk into the Rangers locker room knowing exactly where he stands.
The Rangers, who tried to reacquire Miller — a Blueshirt from 2012-18 — for the first time in 2022, finally got their guy back on Jan. 31.
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Amid an ongoing feud that had become very public with Canucks teammate Elias Pettersson, Miller appeared ready for a fresh start.
The Rangers had to give up some notable pieces to acquire him, including the organizationally grown Filip Chytil and promising prospect Victor Mancini, as well as a 2025 first-round pick (sent to Pittsburgh).
The Rangers also acquired defenseman Erik Brannstrom (later flipped to the Sabres for Nicolas Aube-Kubel) and defense prospect Jackson Dorrington in the Miller deal.
Dorrington later signed his three-year, entry-level contract with the Rangers in March.
The deal came as no surprise given the Rangers’ prior interest in Miller, who appeared to be the perfect mix of emotion, determination and straight-line play the team needed.
Returning to the team that drafted him with the 15th pick in 2015, Miller settled in quickly with a couple of familiar faces around in Kreider (now with the Ducks) and Trocheck, his childhood friend.
“New York is a special place and couldn’t be happier to be here now,” Miller said at the time of the trade. “Just for my family, even outside of hockey, there were 1,000 reasons to want to come here with the hockey team that has been one of the best teams in the league for three or four years in a row. I’m excited to be a part of it.”
In 32 games with the Rangers last season, Miller posted 13 goals and dished 22 assists while averaging 18:31 of ice time per game.
He primarily skated between Zibanejad and Will Cuylle, but he also saw time next to Panarin, Perreault and Alexis Lafrenière.
After playing parts of his first six NHL seasons in New York, Miller was traded — along with Ryan McDonagh — to the Lighting on Feb. 26, 2018, for Libor Hajek, Brett Howden, Vladislav Namestnikov, a 2018 first-round pick and a conditional second-round pick.
Former Rangers coach Alain Vigneault memorably called out Miller during his first go-around with the team, saying that he needed to “figure it out” or he’d be a “good minor league player.”
Miller’s first stint in New York didn’t go exactly the way he had hoped.
Now, his second chance truly begins with a captainship.