Miller 'very excited, very happy' to be reunited with Trocheck, Rangers

BOSTON -- Early on Saturday morning, after all the phone calls had been made and the deal finalized, New York Rangers forward Vincent Trocheck took to Instagram. The picture he posted was old, faded, with a tiny No. 88 Trocheck and a tiny No. 10 J.T. Miller heading one after the other onto a long-ago hockey bench on a long-ago team.

Let’s go @nyrangers, Trocheck wrote.

Hours later, they would inhabit the same bench again. This time in the NHL.

“He’s my best friend in the world,” Trocheck said, of getting word on Friday night that Miller had been traded from the Vancouver Canucks to his Rangers. “I think this had been a pipe dream for -- 10 years in the making, I feel like. Obviously came in the League around the same time. Grew up since we were nine years old together, live about 500 yards from each other back in Pittsburgh. Our kids are really close.”

He broke off, as the tears welled up.

“I’m sorry,” he said, voice breaking. “This is embarrassing. But we’ve been talking about it forever. It means a lot. It’s just a cool experience to be able to play with your best friend in the NHL.”

Miller had arrived in Boston around 3 a.m. on Saturday, off a flight from Dallas, where his Canucks had been set to face the Dallas Stars on Friday. Instead of playing in that game, Miller was off to rejoin the team that drafted him No. 15 in the 2011 NHL Draft and for which he’d played his first six seasons in the NHL.

The Rangers acquired Miller on Friday for Filip Chytil, Victor Mancini and a first-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, which is top-13 protected, transferring to 2026 if the pick is in the top 13. The Rangers received Erik Brannstrom and Jackson Dorrington in the deal as well.

It was a whirlwind of a day for Miller, who scored two of the three Rangers goals in a 6-3 loss to the Bruins, marking the team’s third consecutive defeat after two straight wins.

“It’s kind of like a numb feeling,” Miller said. “Very excited, very happy. It was a big game today, for the team. I’m starting to realize that when I got here. A hard-fought game. But definitely been a long 24 hours.”

Miller re-introduced himself to the team and the scattered Rangers jersey-clad fans almost immediately. At 10:55 of the first period, with the Rangers down 1-0, Miller found himself in exactly the right place at exactly the right time when an Artemi Panarin forecheck forced a clear attempt by Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo to instead bounce to the slot. Miller one-timed the puck from the edge of the left circle past Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman for his first goal for the Rangers in almost seven years, since Feb. 25, 2018, the day before he was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Miller was in the right place once again 35 seconds into the third period, tapping a pass from Mika Zibanejad past Swayman for his second goal and the Rangers second goal of the day.

The goals felt like something of a sigh of relief from Miller, who has had a tumultuous season with the Canucks. He had scored just nine goals for Vancouver, his latest coming on Jan. 27 after a drought of nine games. He now has 37 points (11 goals, 26 assists) in 41 games.

“It feels nice to chip in,” Miller said. “Been pretty snakebit for most of the year, especially lately. So to see one go in is nice. And obviously first game back is a little extra special, for sure.”

Miller was welcomed with open arms by the Rangers, who are looking for a spark in a season that has been far harder than anticipated. They sit in sixth place in the Metropolitan Division with a 24-22-4 record.

“You’re getting a guy like 'Millsy' coming in here, it’s obviously exciting, the talent he has and the player he is, a player with experience and the skill,” Zibanejad said. “It’s exciting to have him here. We’re excited to have him.”

General manager Chris Drury said the Rangers had been working for “a decent amount of time” trying to find a way to bring Miller to New York, including getting input from Trocheck. It had seemed like a good fit, a known commodity, a piece that would work, even with the difficult way his tenure in Vancouver ended, with a breakdown of the relationship between Miller and Canucks forward Elias Pettersson, a rift Vancouver general manager Jim Rutherford confirmed this week.

“I think he’s going to have a terrific impact, not only on the ice, but in our room,” Drury said. “Not only for the remainder of this year, but … moving forward as a big piece of our core. He’s a terrific 200-foot player, plays both sides of the puck, both special teams, physical element and a high-level of compete that we’re excited to bring to our group.”

They had done their homework, had vetted the ways in which Miller might work.

It just made sense.

“It was a team effort to find a different place, obviously a special place here in New York,” Miller said. “Couldn’t be happier to be here now.”

There were “1,000 reasons” that the Rangers were right for him. That included Trocheck.

Asked when they last got to celebrate a goal together, Trocheck quipped, “Never.”

“World Juniors, I think,” he said. “We played together at the World Cup [in 2016], that Team North America, then World Juniors. Then minor hockey with the Pittsburgh Hornets back in 2000, 2001, something like that.”

On Saturday, they were reunited, as they will be again for the US at the 4 Nations Face-Off in less than two weeks.

Miller, too, was reunited with the Rangers, a place he is thrilled now to be.

“It’s hard. I’ve had a long year personally,” Miller said. “Unfortunately that goes by the wayside when you’re trying to win hockey games. It’s a business, right? It got a little ugly there at the end, but I’m glad it’s done and happy to be here.”