J.T. Miller
In his first full season with the Rangers, Miller tallied 22 goals and 21 assists.
While these numbers are certainly impressive for a young player it’s important to remember that a good portion of Miller’s goals came in January and February.
Similar to Fast, Miller’s future is looking up as long as he can build on the success he enjoyed this season.
While Miller tallied three assists in the five playoff games this year, he needs to start scoring some timely playoff goals if he wants to take the next step moving forward.
Grade: B
Derick Brassard
Just a few years ago the Columbus organization basically gave Brassard away in a trade package, and this season he was the leading scorer for the Blueshirts.
Brassard also had a goal and a few assists in the playoffs, which helps his case.
But the issue with Brassard is that he is completely unreliable defensively.
He doesn’t backcheck hard and often blows coverage in the defensive zone. Points are great, but if you’re a liability defensively it hurts your value.
While Brassard could be called upon to score timely goals, he was often caught out of position in his own end.
Grade: B
Rick Nash
Oh, Rick Nash.
Nash scored only 15 goals in 60 games, and while he was out with that nasty bone bruise for a quarter of the season, 15 goals just isn’t good enough.
I’ve said on many occasions that Nash does the little things very well. He backchecks hard and was an important piece of the penalty kill unit.
However, while Nash was injured the penalty kill was completely ineffective.
Having said that, Nash isn’t paid 7.8M to backcheck and be an effective penalty killer. His supposed role is that of a power forward who scores big goals in big games.
Even though Nash had a great start to the playoffs tallying two goals and two assists, he often filled the role of a third line player.
