NASHVILLE — The Rangers will be without their captain for a bit.
J.T. Miller is considered week-to-week with an upper-body injury after further evaluation in New York on Sunday. There is currently no plan to put him on injured reserve or long-term injured reserve.
Sunday night’s matchup with the Predators was just the third game the 32-year-old has missed this season, after he was sidelined for two contests toward the end of November due to an upper-body injury.
“My thoughts are the same as the way they were the last time, he just means so much to this team,” head coach Mike Sullivan said after an optional morning skate Sunday. “He’s the leader of this group in so many ways. Emotionally, with how he plays the game. I think his game was really building, too. His game was really starting to come, especially at the offensive side. He was around the puck so much more. He was more of a threat consistently. I’ve talked to him, I know he was feeling better and better with every game that he played. It seems like this early part of the season, every time he starts to build his game, he gets banged up.
“We’re just going to have to work through that. But, J.T. is not an easy guy to replace. He’s a terrific player, first and foremost, but he impacts this team in so many other ways.”
Rangers captain J.T. Miller (8) is injured on a hit by the Flyers’ Nick Seeler (24) on Dec. 20, 2025. NHLI via Getty Images
Absorbing a hard open-ice check from the Flyers’ Nick Seeler in the third period Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, Miller was upended onto the ice. Philadelphia forward Owen Tippett then tripped over Miller, who was slow to get up before he sat hunched over on the Rangers bench.
Miller ultimately headed to the locker room favoring his right arm/shoulder and did not return for the remainder of the game.
There is belief Miller may have first aggravated an injury in that area in the 2-1 overtime victory in St. Louis on Thursday. This injury, however, is not expected to affect his candidacy for Team USA at the Olympics in Milan in February.
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While his roster spot wasn’t guaranteed even when healthy, Miller being off the ice for any amount of time may lower his chances of cracking an already competitive lineup.
This is the third injury stint Miller has run into so far this season. After missing the end of the preseason due to a non-contact lower-body injury he sustained during training camp, Miller had a slow start to the 2025-26 campaign.
It caused speculation as to whether he had fully healed from the preseason injury or not.
Since the two games he missed in November, Miller has posted 10 points (four goals, six assists), including two overtime winners to make it three on the season. He currently has 10 goals and 12 assists for 22 points through 35 games.
It is looking like the Rangers will be without both Miller and their No. 1 defenseman, Adam Fox, through at the very least the Christmas break.
Fox has begun skating with the team in a red non-contact jersey, but isn’t eligible to be activated off long-term injured reserve until Dec. 27 against the Islanders.
Depending on how his recovery goes, a more realistic target date for Fox could be Jan. 8 vs. Buffalo.