Former New York Rangers general manager Neil Smith believes J.T. Miller was a great acquisition but doesn’t see his former team making a deep playoff run.
Speaking on the RINK RAP podcast, Smith told Forever Blueshirts that while the Rangers are a better team after trading for Miller, they still lack the ingredients of a true Stanley Cup contender.
“In my opinion, they are going to take the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference,” Smith predicted. “I think their accomplishment is going to be making the playoffs, but I don’t see them accomplishing a heckuva lot once they get there.”
When asked if Igor Shesterkin returning to elite form could change that outlook, Smith remained skeptical.
“I don’t see it,” he said. “Yeah, Shesterkin can win a round by himself—he’s that good. But once it gets into the grind against the top teams in the East, I don’t think they’ll have sustained success.”
One of Smith’s biggest concerns is that even with Miller, the Rangers are too much of a finesse team. He believes general manager Chris Drury needs to further tweak the roster before the March 7 NHL Trade Deadline.
“They go too much east-west and not enough north-south,” Smith explained. “They don’t attack the net as much as they should. Panarin’s playoff performances haven’t been great compared to the regular season because the playoffs aren’t his kind of game.”
Smith also questioned whether the Rangers’ core—Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, and Adam Fox—has the right mix to succeed in the postseason.
“To get through the playoffs, you need more Vincent Trochecks and more J.T. Millers,” he said. “And quite honestly, I don’t think it’d be bad to have a [Jacob] Trouba-type player in there. The one thing Trouba did for that team was you never knew when he was going to lay somebody out.”
While the Rangers may be on track for a playoff spot, Smith believes they need to add more physicality and direct play if they want to make a serious run for the Stanley Cup.
Neil Smith believes Rangers will have less pressure on them this season if they make playoffs
The New York Rangers are currently 11th in the Eastern Conference, just three points out of the second wild card spot despite a rough 4-15-0 stretch in November and December. While they’ve made up a lot of ground, they still have several teams to pass in the final 27 games to secure a playoff spot for the fourth consecutive season.
Neil Smith believes that the Ottawa Senators will maintain their hold on the top wild card in the East, thanks to their favorable schedule. The Detroit Red Wings are currently holding the second wild card, with the Rangers, Islanders, Boston Bruins, and Columbus Blue Jackets all in the mix.
Despite facing a series of self-inflicted wounds and internal issues this season, Smith is confident the Rangers will make the playoffs ahead of these other teams, especially with J.T. Miller now in the fold.
“One of the things the Rangers will have going for them for the first time in a number of years is there’s not going to be much downside to their playoffs because they’re not expected to do anything,” Smith explained. “If they get in, there’ll be fanfare for just getting in, and then there’ll be no downside. They won’t have the pressure on them that they normally have.”
This is a stark contrast to last season, when the Rangers won the Presidents’ Trophy and were heavy favorites to win the Stanley Cup for the first time in 30 years, dating back to Smith’s tenure as GM in 1994. Expectations were even higher after their 2022-23 run to the conference final.
But after a disastrous start to this season, those expectations were tempered significantly. The Miller trade has helped raise hopes, but Smith doesn’t see the Rangers being burdened with overwhelming pressure this year.
“His team is in a better spot now than it was. He did a good job,” Smith said of GM Chris Drury. Now, like the rest of the hockey world, Smith is waiting to see if Drury has another major move lined up before the trade deadline.
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