Ex-Rangers defenseman K'Andre Miller is relishing his fresh start with the Hurricanes

“Confidence-wise and just what I wanted from myself, I wasn’t getting a lot of the results I wanted here,” Miller said. “I blame myself for that. I had some struggles throughout my years here. The ups and downs, I think, just kind of took a toll and was in my head for a lot of the time I was here.”

Miller was a big change-of-scenery candidate last summer as a 25-year-old restricted free agent defenseman without a contract and with the Rangers coming off underachieving and missing the playoffs. Carolina gave up 2026 first- and second-round picks and prospect Scott Morrow to get Miller in a sign-and-trade for eight years and $60 million.

General manager Eric Tulsky figured Miller at 6-foot-5 and 210 pounds in the middle of his prime would be an ideal fit for coach Rod Brind'Amour's system. An injury has interrupted that, but it was obvious from opening night that Miller would do just fine.

“He couldn’t have played much better at the start,” Brind'Amour said. “It’s the range. It’s his skating ability. We might be almost burned, but we close it off because we got two extra feet of reach. And then his skating ability fits perfectly getting up the ice and doing everything.”

Miller's absence is one of three on the Hurricanes' blue line, which is also missing shutdown defenseman Jaccob Slavin and offensive-minded Shayne Gostisbehere.

Bummed to miss the first game at his old home arena, Miller is excited to resume playing soon with teammates who quickly made Carolina feel like home.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who think about the game at a very high level,” Miller said. “That’s been eye-opening the last couple of weeks, just being around it, being in the locker room really breaking down plays. I think there’s a little bit more structure to, I guess, the team’s goal in between the whistles and things like that that have made my adjustment really easy.”

Miller made the league's All-Rookie team in 2021, then was part of New York reaching the playoffs three years in a row from ‘22-’24, with a pair of trips to the Eastern Conference final. He averaged more than 21 minutes a game — 23 in the postseason — and believes now he managed that workload well.

“I had a pretty tough job every night going up against the other guys’ top lines,” Miller said. “Had a lot of minutes, a big responsibility. I think overall I handled it pretty well. It’s a tough job playing here, and obviously I wanted to win here and do whatever I could to help the team do good, but we just came up short when it matters.”

Miller is now tasked with trying to help the Hurricanes get over the hump after losing one round short of the Stanley Cup Final two out of the past three springs. There's a long way to go, but veterans such as Sean Walker have been impressed by how seamlessly Miller has adjusted to a new group.

“Just such a good skater, rangy, big, makes good decisions and wants to play fast,” Walker said. “What we want to do night in, night out, I think he fits the mold really well.”

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