Rangers Send K'Andre Miller to Carolina in Sign-and-Trade Deal for D Scott Morrow, Draft Picks

We have a trade to announce...(finally!)

Almost immediately after word of Vladislav Gavrikov signing with the Rangers came out, reports dropped that Chris Drury was working on a deal to send K'Andre Miller to the Carolina Hurricanes. The reason it took all afternoon for the details of the trade to be revealed was that the trade was contingent on Miller agreeing to an extension first. The finished product became another potential Drury masterclass.

The Rangers traded Miller in a sign-and-trade, after he inked an 8-year, $60 million contract, to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for Scott Morrow, a conditional 2026 first round pick, and a 2026 second round pick.

The first round pick is the better of the Hurricane's pick or the Dallas Stars's pick and is top 10 protected—if one of the two picks is in the top 10, the Rangers receive the lower of the two. In the unlikely event that both Carolina and Dallas are in the top 10 at the 2026 NHL Draft, the Rangers will receive the better of the two teams' 2027 first round picks.

All things considered, this is a fantastic trade for Chris Drury and the Rangers. But before we get into the return, some quick thoughts on Miller.

K'Andre Miller has had his inconsistencies throughout his Rangers tenure but he played in important role at a young age in their two runs to the Eastern Conference Final, was a great personality to root for, and, most importantly, was a fantastic role model for a number of young hockey fans. Avery Beaumont does a really good job of explaining that in this thread:

That being said, after the season the Rangers had last year, changes need to happen. And from what we saw in the last two seasons, it was clear Miller was not reaching his ceiling as the Rangers had hoped. There's a chance he will skyrocket right through that ceiling in Carolina, especially benefiting from playing in Rod Brind'Amour's system, but there's also a chance the Rangers still made a really wise decision here. Time will tell but for now, all the best to K'Andre moving forward.

Now for the return: While we waited for details to break, it was being speculated that the Rangers were looking for a return similar to what they would get from a potential offer sheet. Carolina does not have their 3rd round pick next year so they would not be eligible to sign Miller to an offer sheet that required that pick as compensation. The fact that the Rangers were able to get a first, a second, and a prospect that is the equivalent of, if not potentially better, than a third round pick is brilliant work.

So, just who is Scott Morrow? He's a 6-2, 210 pound, right-handed shot defenseman that was drafted 40th overall in 2021. A Darien, Conn., native, Morrow came up through the USHL before spending three years at UMass-Amherst where he consistently put up over 30-points a season. Morrow made his NHL debut at the end of the 2023-24 season and split time between Carolina and the Chicago Wolves last season. In 52 AHL games, he registered 13 goals and 26 assists for a total of 39 points, and in 14 NHL games he scored his first NHL goal and picked up six assists.

Morrow's mobile, he can move the puck, and can control similar to what we see from Adam Fox. He has all the tools that will keep him the NHL full time next season and has a ceiling that can lead to him becoming a very valuable top-four defenseman in the NHL. It's no secret that the Rangers were short a defenseman after moving on from Miller, and assuming Schneider moves to the left side, all of a sudden the back end looks very solid.

Gavrikov - Fox
Schneider - Morrow
Soucy - Borgen
Vaakanainen

He has some work to do defensively and still has to continue to prove he can be a full time NHLer, but the ceiling is incredibly high for Scott Morrow. This is what Scott Wheeler of The Athletic had to say about him last summer:

Morrow was one of the most productive freshman defensemen in college hockey, led the Minutemen in scoring as a sophomore and then had a third straight 30-point season as a junior last year before turning pro. Most importantly, he played better defensively in huge minutes (25 per game) as a junior, taking important steps defensively. This year, as a rookie at the pro level, he has been one of the Wolves’ most productive players and has played 20 minutes per game in the AHL.

Morrow is a real talent who made the jump from high school hockey directly into the NCAA look easy from a skill standpoint (though he has had to do some maturing/growing up on and off the ice) and has now done the same in the AHL. From a skill standpoint, he still has some learning to do in terms of his defensive consistency, but he’s an excellent transition defender who transports pucks confidently, plays boldly inside the offensive zone and possesses impressive handling skill for a defenseman. He’s an exit/entry machine who carves teams up through the neutral zone with head fakes, side steps and cuts — his skating impresses on its edges, even if he’s not explosive. When he’s on the ice, he wants to take over and direct play in possession, and he does so by guiding opposing players out of his way. On top of all that, he’s a 6-foot-2 righty whose defensive game has taken important steps to cut back on mistakes, stay in better positioning and eliminate some of the bad habits that concerned scouts. There’s real top-four, power-play upside to Morrow if he continues to round out his game.