K’Andre one of big names Blueshirts have to rely on
THE BURDEN of proof is not going to rest on Jack Roslovic, Alex Wennberg or Chad Ruhwedel when the puck drops on the postseason. These trade-deadline acquisitions were meant to fortify and complete the team, not to lead it.
That weight will rest on the club’s marquee players who unexpectedly crashed last year after unexpectedly soaring the previous spring. The Rangers’ best players will have to be their best players. That’s not unique to this team.
The Blueshirts will need the best versions of Igor Shesterkin, Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Adam Fox and Chris Kreider, to name five.
K’Andre Miller represents a sixth.
Which is why it is a good thing for the Blueshirts that the 24-year-old, matchup defenseman’s game has been trending upward since telling The Post on Dec. 27, “I don’t think I’ve done anything this year that I’ve been really happy with, to be completely honest.”
That was a couple of weeks after Miller had sat out a pair of games to focus on his mental health. And though a hiccup may still intrude here and there with the defenseman lunging, Miller’s game has been more dynamic and more instinctive over the last two months. His rush reads have settled down. He’s moved the puck and has defended more stoutly in front of the net.
“I think after that start, I just kind of sat down with myself and evaluated my game from the start up until then,” Miller told The Post in advance of Monday’s 3-1 victory over the Devils at the Garden. “I didn’t love my game so I tried to spend a little more time at the rink and work on my game a little bit more than I guess I had been earlier.
“Putting in the work was the key to turning it around for me.”
As with most players emerging from a malaise, Miller’s attention to detail improved when he narrowed his focus and stopped trying to be all things to all people.
“It’s just playing a more simple game and not trying to over-complicate things. I know it’s kind of a cliché, but the quicker you can move the puck the quicker you can skate up the ice,” No. 79 said. “I feel like anything you do with a little more urgency starts to fall a little bit better.
“It starts with moving my feet and letting the game come to me.”
Miller has been a matched set with Jacob Trouba pretty much since he made his NHL debut with the 2020-21 opener but has been paired with Braden Schneider for the last two matches in the wake of the lower-body injury to Trouba that will sideline the captain for two to three weeks. The pair was outstanding both in this one and the 4-0 victory over the Blues on Saturday.
“I think he has been really good,” Laviolette said of Miller. “One of the things for me, Key is so athletic, his mobility, his ability to skate, his reach both offensively and defensively, his ability to attack the game with his skating.
“In his own way he plays a physical game, he competes hard on pucks, he competes hard on bodies. Defensively, he and Jacob have had a really big job playing against the other teams’ top players most nights and I think they’ve done a really good job. So I think gaining that experience is only going to help him as he continues to develop.”
Miller is 6-foot-5. In other words, he is big. But he does not play big like, say, Jeff Beukeboom.
He does not even play big like, say, the listed 6-0 Ryan Lindgren. The physical aspect of his game is a bit more subtle.
“I think there’s a time and place for physicality,” Miller said. “When an opportunity presents itself I’m going to step up and hit somebody. If I have an opportunity to make a big play by hitting somebody I would.
“Obviously I’m not the most physical player on the team but I am trying to bring a little more edge to my game.”
The Rangers are in full dress-rehearsal mode for the tournament. They are in Raleigh, N.C., on Tuesday while attempting to extend the four-point division lead they hold over the chasing ’Canes having gone 13-2-1 in their last 16 contests.
This is the kind of challenge the Blueshirts should covet as they incorporate Roslovic and Wennberg into the equation. Monday sure wasn’t much of one as the Devils for the most part acted as if they’d been eliminated from the playoffs weeks ago. Woof !
The Rangers will rely on Wennberg, Roslovic and Ruhwedel (when he gets into the lineup) to fill specific support roles the rest of the way. But they, like every other team, will be reliant on their marquee guys to take them over the finish line.
Miller is one of those guys. That is a very good thing.