Former Rangers GM delivers hilarious quip about K’Andre Miller $60 million contract with Hurricanes

It’s safe to say that if former New York Rangers general manager Neil Smith was still an NHL executive, there’d be no way he would’ve handed K’Andre Miller as massive a contract as the Carolina Hurricanes did last week.

Miller signed an eight-year, $60 million contract, worth $7.5 million annually, after the Hurricanes acquired him in a July 1 trade with the Rangers. Defenseman Scott Morrow and two 2026 draft picks — a conditional first-rounder and a second-round selection — were acquired by the Rangers in return for the skilled, yet inconsistent 25-year-old.

On his recent NHL Wraparound podcast, Smith sounded incredulous about Miller’s expensive deal when speaking with guest Elliotte Friedman.

“But my goodness, Elliotte, these guys, like I’ve seen K Andre Miller play since he got there (in New York),” Smith ranted. “If he’s a $7 million defenseman, you know, I’m a $10 million podcaster.”

He may have been born and raised in Ontario, but Smith was straight out of New York with that dose of sarcasm.

Friedman, the NHL insider with Sportsnet, was more diplomatic with his take. He pointed out that three RFA defensemen — Miller, Evan Bouchard and Noah Dobson — “benefitted from being free at the right time, and there just wasn’t a lot of players available.”

Bouchard signed a whopping four-year, $42 million extension ($10.5 million AAV) to remain with the Edmonton Oilers last week. And Dobson, a year removed from becoming an unrestricted free agent, let it be known he had no plan to sign with the Islanders long term. So, the Islanders traded Dobson to the Montreal Canadiens for a pair of first-round draft picks and forward Emil Heineman, and Montreal then inked the defenseman to an eight-year, $76 million deal worth $9.5 million annually.

With those prices, it can be argued that Miller was a bargain, though you certainly can’t convince Smith of that. However, even though Smith’s the only one with a Stanley Cup championship on his resume, the opinion that matters most is that of Eric Tulsky, the Hurricanes GM.

“It’s a big price to pay, but we think he’s a great fit for our system,” Tulsky explained. “You hear me talk a lot about how hard our scouting department works to identify players who will fit. He was one of them.”

Neil Smith raised important question about Rangers deal with Vladislav Gavrikov

There was one other topic that got Smith riled up on the podcast he co-hosts with Vic Morren.

Tampering.

In reviewing how quickly deals get done immediately after the 12 Noon ET start of free agency on July 1, Smith was again incredulius.

“So I want to ask you and talk to you about another thing that that just drives me nuts,” Smith said Friedman. “Maybe you can explain this to me too, and that is tampering. And you know, [Mitch] Marner, come on, there had to be tampering by Vegas on Marner, and I got to say that, unless Chris Drury is an absolute magician, and he’s like the Evelyn Wood of negotiating — how did he get a deal done in an hour and 15 minutes with Gavrikov?”

To be fair, Smith’s far from the first person to question the ethics and bending of the rules when it comes to NHL free agency. But, again, Friedman had a rational take, at least as far as the Rangers deal with Gavrikov was concerned.

“So, this is another great question,” he said. “But one of the reasons I think the Rangers were able to do Gavrikov so quickly, is I think they were working on a sign and trade with the [Los Angeles] Kings. Now, obviously that didn’t happen, but you know, there’s something for you. I do think a sign and trade nearly happened, so that Gavrikov could get that eighth year.”

Of course, if the sides were working on a sign and trade, there would’ve been interaction allowed between the Rangers and Gavrikov. So, Drury and Co. would know exactly what could work on July 1 even though the early sign and trade fell through.

Ultimately, Gavrikov signed quickly after free agency started, agreeing to a seven-year, $49 million contract with the Rangers, worth $7 million per season. Though the 29-year-old is older than Miller, Bouchard and Dobson, his deal very likely could end up as the best bargain of the day, though time will tell how it looks down the road once Gavrikov plays into his 30s.