{"id":455216,"date":"2026-02-12T04:14:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T04:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/455216\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T04:14:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T04:14:25","slug":"j-t-miller-expects-team-usa-role-to-be-familiar-at-2026-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/455216\/","title":{"rendered":"J.T. Miller expects Team USA role to be familiar at 2026 Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"

MILAN \u2014 J.T. Miller didn\u2019t exactly dream of playing in the Olympics growing up, like most of the athletes competing at the Milan Cortina Games.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rather than the Olympics, the X Games \u2014 which typically include skateboarding, freestyle motocross, skiing and snowboarding \u2014 were more likely to be on the television in his childhood home in East Palestine, Ohio.<\/p>\n

Representing his country on the Olympic stage didn\u2019t cross Miller\u2019s mind until he joined the U.S. national team at 16 in 2009.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Seventeen years later, here he is donning the red, white and blue in Italy. Team USA general manager Bill Guerin opted to retain Miller from the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament<\/a> last February, after the 32-year-old played a role in the team\u2019s second-place finish.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"J.T.J.T. Miller and Jack Eichel of Team United States take part during training on day two of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on February 8, 2026 in Milan, Italy. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Guerin had such a deep pool of American talent in the NHL to consider, but continuity, team chemistry<\/a> and constructing a lineup with role players factored into his decisions. Miller checks all of those boxes.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, when I\u2019m on my game it\u2019s kind of similar,\u201d Miller told The Post of the role he envisions for himself on Team USA after practice Wednesday. \u201cI mean, obviously, less of a role here, but I love the fact that I get to be a part of the penalty kill, take faceoffs, be defensively responsible and try to get some momentum. And also just try to play our heavy game, like the game I\u2019m comfortable playing. Play a game that\u2019s responsible. Try to be similar to my normal game. There\u2019s going to be a time to take care of the puck and time to make a play, but just a responsible 200-foot game. I\u2019m looking forward to that and bringing energy and bringing some juice to the room. I embrace that. I\u2019m just trying to be myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

2026 WINTER OLYMPICS<\/p>\n

Based on practice here Wednesday, Miller looks primed to make his Olympic debut against Latvia on Thursday. He skated on the right wing of the fourth line next to Jack Hughes, and a rotation of Brock Nelson and Vincent Trocheck at center.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Rangers captain is also expected to be a key part of Team USA\u2019s penalty kill.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"NewJ.T. Miller of the Rangers skates against the Boston Bruins at Madison Square Garden on January 26, 2026. Getty Images<\/p>\n

When he takes the ice at Santagiulia Arena on Thursday, however, Miller will be most grateful to share the experience with his family.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not really for me, I think it\u2019s more for my kids,\u201d Miller said. \u201cThey\u2019re getting to that really fun age where it\u2019s like, I get to share that. And I\u2019ve been with my wife for so long, with each other for over half of our lives. For us, together, to experience that, I just think that means the world to us. Obviously, my parents, you know, all the sacrifices they\u2019ve made. I\u2019m not thinking about me really at all. It\u2019s just more about the people around me. They get to experience it. So we just don\u2019t take this for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN \u2014 J.T. Miller didn\u2019t exactly dream of playing in the Olympics growing up, like most of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455217,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5111],"tags":[5,2685,3328,35,5190,5193,4,2602,36,43,2787,31286],"class_list":{"0":"post-455216","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-rangers","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-j-t-miller","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-rangers","12":"tag-newyork","13":"tag-newyorkrangers","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-olympics","16":"tag-rangers","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-winter-olympics","19":"tag-winter-olympics-2026"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116055721615711057","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}