Rangers' K'Andre Miller talks openly about stepping away to focus on mental health
LAS VEGAS - The hard truth of professional sports is that athletes are judged by performance with little-to-no regard for what might be going on underneath the helmet.
From that perspective, K'Andre Miller's decision to step away from the Rangers for a few days last month to concentrate on his mental health was courageous.
"The easier your life is away from the rink, I feel like you can come to the rink with that same easy-minded flow to your game that I was looking for," the Blueshirts' defenseman said following Thursday's morning skate at T-Mobile Arena. "I kind of lost that for a little bit. I just wanted to get back to myself. I wasn't feeling like myself, so I needed to take that time to myself and kind of do what my body was telling me."
The direct correlation between how he feels and how he plays is difficult for fans to see, but it's a connection the St. Paul, Minn. native has become keenly aware of.
Achieving that balance is the challenge.
"I haven't had my greatest season," he said bluntly. "I’ve run into a little bit of difficulty through the middle stretch here, and I think it's just of a matter of switching the mood in here. Obviously, we weren’t doing so great. I think that was kind of an eye opener for this group and it kind of woke us up and put a different type of fire under our stove."
As a team, the Rangers have hit a midseason lull in which they've essentially split their last 20 games, going 10-9-1 in that span. It's coincided with an up-and-down period for Miller.
He's gone nine straight games without a point and has been at the center of some critical goals against. As a result, his metrics have slipped below 50% in a few critical categories, including xGF (46.14%) and shot share (48.48%), according to Evolving Hockey.
Like many of his teammates, he's trying to walk the fine line between cutting down on the defensive breakdowns and picking the right spots to be aggressive offensively.
"When you're talking about those specific mistakes, they're usually generating from puck decisions through the neutral zone, or just puck decisions in general," he said. "I think it’s a matter of (holding) the puck for one second too much or just making things a little bit quicker. When we're our best, it’s when we're playing a quick, north-south game. And when we're good defensively, that usually leads to good offense. When we’re at our best, we’re playing hard defensively, shutting them down and eliminating their chances."
Takeaways: Kakko, Wheeler provide secondary scoring Rangers' need
When evaluating Miller's season, it's necessary to consider his usage.
The 6-foot-5, 210-pounder consistently draws the most difficult assignments while ranking second on the team behind Adam Fox with an average of 22:02 time on ice per game. He and partner Jacob Trouba have been fairly steady in the face of those heavy minutes, allowing an average of 2.14 goals against per 60 minutes at five-on-five after seeing that number ballon to 2.95 last season, according to moneypuck.com.
"He and Jacob have done a really good job handling important minutes for us," head coach Peter Laviolette noted. "It's not set in stone all the time, but they handle a lot of No. 1 and No. 2 lines – the tougher lines to handle from an offensive standpoint. And as a young defenseman, sometimes that can be difficult reading those situations. I think he's done a good job with regard to that. I also think that he pushes himself offensively, and I think both of those areas will continue to grow with more experience that he gets."
Growth is the objective for a player who scouts believe has an all-star ceiling.
Miller, who will turn 24 on Sunday, has yet to meet those high expectations − and he'll be the first to admit it.
"I’m very hard on myself," he said. "It brings the best out of me, and I think having that knowledge – the feeling of the last couple of games – it sits in your stomach a little bit and gives you a little extra motivation to try to figure out what's going wrong and try to get back on track as soon as possible."
Striving to get better while avoiding the pitfalls of putting too much pressure on yourself is the tricky part.
Miller, like many others who are struggling with similar vulnerabilities, is still working to find that happy medium. When he does, it could be the moment he unlocks his vast potential.
It's an ongoing and imperfect process, but kudos to him for having the wherewithal to raise his hand and take a step back when he felt the scales tipping too far in one direction.
"It was good to throw a hard reset when I did," he said. "I think mental health is huge. It's something that I've been working on the last couple of years – just making sure that I’m good mentally to come out on the ice and perform my best is kind of the biggest thing. It’s the thing I was most looking forward to during that little time of absence."
NY Rangers (28-13-2) projected lineup: Game 44 at Vegas Golden Knights (25-14-5)
When: Thursday, Jan. 18 at 10 p.m.
Where: T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas
TV/Radio: MSGSN/1050 AM
Forwards
Top line ⊳ Chris Kreider (LW) ⋄ Mika Zibanejad (C) ⋄ Kaapo Kakko (RW)
Second line ⊳ Artemi Panarin (LW) ⋄ Vincent Trocheck (C) ⋄ Alexis Lafrenière (RW)
Third line ⊳ Will Cuylle (LW) ⋄ Jonny Brodzinski (C) ⋄ Blake Wheeler (RW)
Fourth line ⊳ Jimmy Vesey (LW) ⋄ Nick Bonino (C) ⋄ Barclay Goodrow (RW)
Defensemen
Top pair ⊳ Ryan Lindgren (L) ⋄ Adam Fox (R)
Second pair ⊳ K'Andre Miller (L) ⋄ Jacob Trouba (R)
Third pair ⊳ Erik Gustafsson (L) ⋄ Braden Schneider (R)
Goalies
Starter ⊳ Igor Shesterkin
Backup ⊳ Jonathan Quick
Long-term injured reserve: F Filip Chytil (upper body)
Injured: Tyler Pitlick (lower body)
Healthy scratch: D Zac Jones
Vincent Z. Mercogliano is the New York Rangers beat reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Read more of his work at lohud.com/sports/rangers/ and follow him on Twitter @vzmercogliano.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Rangers' K'Andre Miller talks openly about importance of mental health