Following the signing of Vladislav Gavrikov (breakdown of the fantasy impact of that deal here) it seemed all-but-certain that the New York Rangers were going to be trading defenceman K'Andre Miller. As happened with Vegas and Mitch Marner, the deal ended up being a sign-and-trade, only this time to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for a conditional first-round pick, a second round pick, and defenceman Scott Morrow:

Miller was extended by Carolina for eight years with an AAV of $7.5M. With Miller turning 26 years old in January, that deal will carry him through his age-33 season. He is coming off a down year with just 27 points in 74 games. Let's break it down.

What Carolina Gets

Saying that Miller had a down year isn't to single his performance out; basically the entire Rangers organization had a down year except for Will Cuylle. It is also worth mentioning that Miller’s 'down' year also resulted in 0.99 points per 60 minutes at 5-on-5, per Evolving Hockey. That was a top-50 mark among regular defencemen, and in the 72^nd percentile of the NHL. Over the last three seasons, Miller has averaged 1.01 points per 60 minutes at 5-on-5, also a top-50 mark in the league. He hasn't gotten back to the 40-point plateau in back-to-back seasons, but he clearly has it in his toolbelt to do so.

Also, Miller's defensive metrics did decline in 2024-25 compared to his first three seasons, but that is also the outlier. Miller has four full years in the NHL and his first three years, again from Evolving Hockey, he had a 72^nd percentile mark by their defensive impact metrics. Not elite, but good enough to be a number-2 guy. That got worse in 2024-25, but I would be more inclined to believe he's the player he was in the first three seasons than last year when the Rangers fell apart both on and off the ice.

Even if he's not much more than a 35-point defenceman, Miller has posted triple-digit blocks and hits in each of the last three seasons, averaging 117 blocks and 147 hits per game. The blocks may tick down going to a Carolina team that doesn't allow many shots, but he still has across-the-board multi-cat value, just a bit less of it in cap league formats.

It seems as if Miller is set to line up on the second pair for Carolina behind Jaccob Slavin. With Slavin on the shutdown pair, Miller will no longer be tasked with playing against the opposition's top players as he has been for the last couple of seasons. That, along with a team that stresses much more focus on puck control, will help his defensive numbers rebound even more than they would have.

The big question is whether Miller can get secondary power play time. It seems a near-lock that Shayne Gostisbehere retains the top PP role, but Miller earned between 8-20% of New York's power-play time in each of the last three seasons as a secondary or even tertiary option behind Adam Fox, according to Frozen Tools. Conversely, Carolina's second PP defenceman has earned between 33-47% of the power-play time in each of the last three years. There is still Brent Burns to consider as he's UFA and could return, Sean Walker is on the roster, and Carolina just signed Mike Reilly. There is competition here for that PP2 role, but if Miller can lock it down, it could easily add another five points to his overall total, and that matters a lot for a guy who isn't a monster producer.

This is tough news for Alexander Nikishin. Slavin, Miller, Gostisbehere, and Reilly are all left-handed shots along with Nikishin. As of right now, only Walker and Jalen Chatfield are right-handed shots, but if they bring back Brent Burns, the blue line is full. It may be full without Burns, anyway. At the least, this means Nikishin is no higher than sixth on the depth chart and that's bad news for his fantasy value.

Morrow goes to a Rangers lineup that could fit him on the third pair, but they have six NHL defencemen signed with Matthew Robertson also in the mix for the seven spot. Morrow is either going to be a bottom-pair option, a press box option, or an AHL option. None of those things have fantasy value outside the absolute deepest of formats.

Who This Helps

K'Andre Miller

Matthew Robertson

Who This Hurts

Alexander Nikishin

Mike Reilly