Rangers captain J.T. Miller will remain out of the lineup Thursday night as he continues to recover from a lower-body injury. The veteran forward won’t be available when the Rangers host the Devils at Madison Square Garden.
There is some encouraging news, though — Artemi Panarin, the team’s leading scorer for six straight seasons, could make his preseason debut after missing the first four games with a lower-body injury of his own.
Miller was injured during Monday’s practice while lunging to push a loose puck past a defender near the left point in a high-intensity drill. It was a non-contact injury. After falling to all fours, he slowly got up, putting weight only on his left leg, and carefully skated off the ice before heading to the locker room. He hasn’t returned to the ice since.
Although early concerns suggested the injury could be serious, those fears were quickly dismissed. Still, Miller has yet to return to practice.
“He’s day-to-day, from what I understand,” Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan said after Wednesday’s practice. “We’re being cautious with him. I can tell you he won’t play tomorrow, and we’ll go from there. But I think he’s trending in the right direction, and we expect to have him back soon.”
The Rangers named Miller the 29th captain in franchise history on September 16. Before this season, he had been remarkably durable, missing no more than two games in each of the previous three years. Last season, however, Miller missed 10 games with the Vancouver Canucks after taking a personal leave of absence in November — a move reportedly linked to a falling-out with teammate Elias Pettersson.
Since being acquired by the Rangers at the trade deadline on January 31, the 32-year-old has made a strong impact, tallying 35 points (13 goals, 22 assists) in 32 games. He’s entering the third year of the seven-year, $56 million contract he originally signed with Vancouver in 2022.
Panarin suffered his lower-body injury during practice on September 19 and has yet to appear in a preseason game. He’s been a full participant in practices since last Friday, including taking full contact. While head coach Mike Sullivan is encouraged by Panarin’s progress, he stopped short of confirming whether the 33-year-old winger would dress against the Devils.
“He looks good. He looks strong,” Sullivan said. “He’s an incredible talent — what he can do with the puck is special. Just watching him work on the power play, you see how unique he is in that area. We focused on power play drills in practice today, and he looked strong, healthy, and in great shape.”
As for whether Panarin would be in the lineup: “We haven’t made that decision yet,” Sullivan added. “We’ll meet this afternoon and talk it over. But we like the direction he’s heading. These last couple of days have been really solid for him.”
The Rangers will wrap up their preseason schedule Saturday afternoon in Boston, taking on the Bruins at TD Garden, before opening the regular season Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Head coach Mike Sullivan said he hopes Artemi Panarin — who led the team last season with 37 goals and 89 points — can get into game action before the puck officially drops.
“In a perfect world, you’d want a guy to get at least one game in — ideally two,” Sullivan said. “But as we all know, it’s not always perfect. Whether he gets one or none, he’ll be fine. He’s a high-end player and he’ll adjust quickly. That said, we’d prefer to get him some reps before the games start to count.”
Meanwhile, veteran center Sam Carrick returned to practice Wednesday wearing a no-contact jersey. The 33-year-old had missed both Monday’s 3-2 preseason win over the Islanders and Tuesday’s practice with a lower-body issue.
Carrick skated between Jonny Brodzinski and Brett Berard on what looked to be an extra line. Rookie Noah Laba continued to center Matt Rempe and Adam Edstrom — a group that more closely resembled the likely fourth line.