NY Rangers captain J.T. Miller makes something clear to Mike Sullivan, teammates amid losing skid

When it rains, it pours. In the NHL, that is no different. For the New York Rangers, the sun hasn’t come out in a while in The Big Apple. After falling 4-3 against the Los Angeles Kings, captain J.T. Miller took it upon himself to send head coach Mike Sullivan and his teammates a bold reminder.

When the Rangers do the right things—and when they don’t—the end result appears to remain unchanged. At some point, this becomes disheartening for an organization that seems to have lost its north long ago and now stares at a broken compass.

So far, the plan that began when Miller was named captain—intended to inject a culture-changing personality into the locker room—has been anything but a success. However, Miller remains confident that he can help his team right the ship. In that regard, he delivered a glass-half-full message to Sullivan and company after the defeat in Los Angeles.

“I think we’re happy with the execution,” Miller told The New York Post after the game. “At the end of the night, we can sleep well knowing that we’re doing the right things. You have to believe that if you keep doing the right things then the puck will go in the net.”

Mike Sullivan at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York.

Loss after loss for Rangers

It’s been the story of the 2025–26 NHL season for Sullivan’s Rangers. New York stacks one loss after another, with wins serving only as sporadic intermissions in between. Just when the Broadway Blueshirts believe they’ve found a winning recipe, another misstep ensues, followed by tomatoes hurled from an anxious Madison Square Garden crowd that can’t take any more—yet somehow, there’s always room for more.

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The Rangers have now lost two in a row and are 2–7–1 over their last 10 outings. Only one team has a worse record over that stretch—the Vancouver Canucks (0-8-2). Still, that offers little relief for New York, which should know by now that being compared to the organization in British Columbia at the moment is anything but a compliment.

Where the Rangers stand

The Rangers are last in the East, sitting 10 points back of the final wild-card berth. Needless to say, it will take a miracle—or something close to it—for New York to reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs. First and foremost, winds of change must find their way into the world’s most famous arena. Until then, words are wind in Manhattan, and they have yet to lead to better results on the ice.