K’Andre Miller-Will Borgen pairing has become bright spot in Rangers resurgence

The New York Rangers have begun to dig themselves out of a month-long rut that sent them toward the bottom of the Metropolitan Division. Thanks to a notable increase in quality of play across the board, the Blueshirts are 5-1-2 in January after going 4-15-0 in their final 19 games of 2024.

One quickly emerging bright spot is the defensive pairing of K’Andre Miller and Will Borgen.

Neither had been performing at a particularly high level this season. In fact, both Miller and Borgen are statistically in the midst of career-worst seasons

After recording just two points and a minus-13 rating in 33 games with the Seattle Kraken this season, Borgen was sent to New York as part of the return for Kaapo Kakko back in mid-December.

Miller, meanwhile, has just two goals and seven points on a career-worst 3.4 shooting percentage and a minus-3 rating. For context, Miller has never finished a season with a negative plus-minus.

Despite their first-half struggles, they’ve found some success playing next to each other.

Rangers coach Peter Laviolette paired the two when Miller returned from an upper-body injury on Dec. 28. While they didn’t gel right from the jump, they’ve quickly built chemistry and have arguably become the Rangers’ best two-way defensive pairing.

Borgen’s simple and steady play, particularly in the defensive zone, has made him a strong complement to the more aggressive Miller, who has a lot of offensive potential but is also prone to turnovers and defensive lapses.

It’s a philosophy we see across the NHL — pairing a defensive-minded defenseman with a partner who takes chances and can produce at the offensive end — and the Rangers have had one of the most successful examples in recent memory.

Adam Fox and Ryan Lindgren became a staple together back in the 2019-20 season, becoming one of the Rangers’ best two-way pairings for consecutive seasons.

As Fox won the Norris Trophy in 2020-21, the duo generated a 58.6 expected goals for percentage, a metric that calculates the team’s scoring chances generated and allowed while the pairing is on the ice. That led the Rangers and ranked 11th across the entire league according to MoneyPuck (minimum 150 minutes). The two would lead the Rangers’ defensive pairings in that metric for four straight seasons, ending in 2022-23.

This is not to say that Miller will ascend to the level of Fox or that Borgen will ascend to the defensive consistency that made Lindgren so valuable, prior to injuries taking a toll in the past couple of seasons. But it shows that the Rangers have found success with this general framework before.

The same metrics that favored Fox and Lindgren also favor Miller and Borgen right now.

Through 10 games, Miller and Borgen lead all active D-pairings and rank third on the team with a 55.8 percent xGF (minimum 20 minutes), trailing only Miller and Fox (67 percent) and Jacob Trouba and Braden Schneider (57.4 percent).

It’s measured slightly differently on Natural Stat Trick, but Miller and Borgen are still positive at 50.98 percent xGF; they lead all active pairs and are third on the team.

Plus, in terms of goals for percentage, which simply measures the goals a team scores and allows while both players are on the ice, Miller and Borgen rank fifth at 56.25 percent (9 GF / 7 GA), which once again leads all active pairs.

One last analytical dive, if you’ll allow — there’s a wonderful site called Hockey StatCards which uses Natural Stat Trick’s hockey data in order to generate individual game scores for every skater in every game. Of course, the higher the game score, the better.

In five of the last seven games, one or both of the Miller-Borgen pair has finished top five on the team in game score. In New York’s 6-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Jan. 5, Miller and Borgen stood atop the chart with game scores of 4.34 and 4.17 respectively — both season-highs by a significant margin. Miller’s game score ranked fourth among all NHL skaters that night.

It’s arguably more impressive for Borgen, who has not been an analytics darling this season and still has bottom 10th percentile defensive metrics — perhaps due to his extended struggles in Seattle. Borgen had just four positive game scores in 33 games with the Kraken this season but already got six in his 13 games with the Rangers.

Borgen has been a welcome addition in New York, and his steady play has seemingly emboldened Miller to play with more confidence and even a little more physicality. Plus, Laviolette seems to agree that they’ve been meshing well.

“I think they’ve done a really good job together,” Laviolette told Mollie Walker of the New York Post. “They take tough starts, they take top players. They’re both big, they both can skate. The pairs seem to be getting stronger as they get a little more accustomed to each other.”

What it means for the future of the Rangers is yet to be determined, but they’ve certainly stumbled upon a top-4 pairing.

Questions remain about defensemen’s futures with Rangers

Both Borgen and Miller are due for new contracts at the end of the season. Borgen is set to become an unrestricted free agent while Miller is up for his first season of restricted free agency. As of now, neither’s future with the Rangers is a certainty.

At age 24 and with elite athletic abilities, Miller’s ceiling still remains sky high. But inconsistency throughout the course of five seasons has kept him from ascending to the level of a true top-line defensemen. He’ll break out for a mind-blowing goal every once in a while, but he hasn’t become the steady offensive contributor that his skills could make him.

More concerning are the recurring issues on the defensive end. Mental lapses and missed rotations have led to easy goals for opponents while his inconsistent physical play is disappointing for someone with a dominant 6-foot-5 frame.

Even during the recent stretch when Miller has largely shined, his defensive-zone turnover late in the third against the Dallas Stars on Jan. 7 led to directly to the game-tying goal. The Rangers went on to lose 5-4 in overtime.

Is a strong second half enough to secure the long-term deal from the Rangers that he seeks? Perhaps so. And if the Rangers are fond of Borgen as well, that could bode well for both sticking around.

Borgen’s future is an entirely different conversation. Obviously, there’s no guarantee he’s here next season, but there’s not even a guarantee that he’ll be here in March after the NHL Trade Deadline.

Even with the Rangers’ recent surge, it’s still plausible that general manager Chris Drury might look to move some of his expiring contracts to collect future assets. Borgen, among others, falls into that camp.

“I think the guys to look at are probably Borgen and Lindgren because you can get stuff for defensemen,” The Athletic’s Peter Baugh told Blueshirts Breakaway when asked who the Rangers will look to move at the deadline.

But, of course, that would mean breaking up one of your must successful D-pairs and trading away a defenseman who has found success in your system. Considering some of the defensive issues the Blueshirts have suffered this season, trading away a 28-year-old who plays well in the D-zone could backfire.

“I think the question with Borgen is — do you extend him?” Baugh added. “Do you see him as a defensive defensemen you’re gonna keep around long term? And if you do, it’s probably worth not getting a second-round pick to lock him up.”

Jonny Lazarus of Daily Faceoff chimed in on his support of keeping Borgen this season, complimenting his simple and physical game. It does feel like that’s something that had been missing from the Rangers’ back end.

Trading Borgen would certainly be a blow to any hopes of playoff contention this season.

It’s not hard to envision him as a steady, reliable defensemen on a contending team. If the Rangers believe they can return to the highest echelon and chase a Stanley Cup as early as next season, perhaps it is worth keeping him around and extending him on a two- or three-year deal.

But with so many questions surrounding the state of the roster, a steady defensemen may not be tops on the priority list. And if Borgen does leave in free agency, the Rangers will have missed their chance at getting some value back in the form of an early-round draft pick.

The Rangers have placed themselves in an odd sort of limbo thanks to their strong January start. If it continues, they may very well work themselves back into the mess of a playoff picture in the Eastern Conference.

Borgen and Miller have been at the forefront of that resurgence. But with so many questions about the Rangers’ future as team, their future remains clouded as well.