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New York Rangers News: J.T. Miller Sent Down To Hartford

According to the AHL’s roster transactions page, the New York Rangers have assigned J.T. Miller to the Hatford Wolf Pack. This comes less than a day after the team announced Ryan Callahan would return to the lineup for Monday’s game against the Los Angeles Kings.

This is somewhat of a surprise, especially since everyone believed it was Jesper Fast — not Miller — who was the final hopeful to make the big club. It should be noted, however, that maybe Alain Vigneault knew he was going to have to replace someone with Callahan (and eventually Carl Hagelin) and selected Miller to play in however many games before Callahan returned.

On the surface it might not make much sense to keep Fast over Miller or Chris Kreider, but when you dig into the schematics it kind of does. The Rangers brass would rather guys like Kreider and Miller playing 20 minutes a night in the AHL, rather than playing 10 minutes a night in the NHL. Both players can use some seasoning, so it’s not a bad call to keep them in the AHL rather than having them middle around with the big club.

Just like with Kreider, I expect Miller to find his way back up again.

I’m sure a lot of you are wondering why Aaron Asham or another veteran (Taylor Pyatt) wasn’t sent down. Well, I think cap is playing a big role here, too. Plus, someone has to sit. So it may as well be Asham rather than a kid.

Thoughts on this guys?

Talking Points