The K’Andre Miller Acquisition Is A Major Gamble For Carolina

The K’Andre Miller Acquisition Is A Major Gamble For Carolina

K’Andre Miller is a good player. Taller defenseman, some skating and puck moving ability for sure. However, is he a guy you would give up multiple premium assets for? And sign him to an eight-year, $60 million contract? At this point in time, the answer is no. Sure, the rising cap will mitigate this financially, and he’s only 25, but this is still a major risk for the Carolina Hurricanes. Why did Eric Tulsky not take back and reconsider this major red flag? Not only did Chris Drury not believe in him enough to sign him at this number. But he also did not hesitate to give him up to a division rival at a moment’s notice.

Carolina needs him to pan out. Not only does he have to be a stable hand on the second pairing, but he could also likely run their PP2 next season. If not, you have a pretty considerable amount of cap space eaten up while also surrendering valuable assets to an aging Rangers team. They could either use them to inject young talent or make a big swing for players that will help them now. Putting that much on the line for the following has major repercussions attached:

K'Andre Miller, acquired by CAR, is a top four two-way defender with superb mobility. Has a long reach defensively but can get caught chasing or drifting out of position, exposing lanes to the net. A solid passer and puck carrier in transition and the offensive zone. #LetsGoCanes pic.twitter.com/bsodgK17GE

— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) July 1, 2025

Context Is King

What’s important to consider here is that Miller was an RFA. If Carolina just signed him to a deal and the Rangers sat back, they would have gotten something in return anyways. According to PuckPedia, the range this deal falls under is between $7,020,114-$9,360,153. The compensation there would have been a first, second, and third round pick, all of them in 2026. They settled on a return slightly under that, which you can see below via Larry Brooks of the NY Post:

Rangers are getting conditional first and second plus right defenseman Scott Morrow from Canes in exchange for K'Andre Miller, Post has been told.

— Larry Brooks (@NYP_Brooksie) July 1, 2025

I’m sorry, but even with the rules in place, that is a lot to give up for a player or Miller’s caliber. Scott Morrow was arguably Carolina’s best defensive prospect outside of Alex Nikishin. The first-rounder is also top-10 protected and will be whichever one is better between Dallas or Carolina. If it were me, I would have rather found a way to strike a deal with Kyle Dubas for Erik Karlsson. At least with that guy, you know what you’re gonna get out of him, and you’re on the hook for only two years. Hey, maybe that still happens. You probably wouldn’t have to give up a ton to get him. But either way, settling on adding Miller first while letting Drury off the hook big time could look really bad in a few years.

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K’Andre Miller will have some major expectations to live up to in 2025-2026. His career-best in points in a season is 43. The Carolina Hurricanes clearly believe he has more to give as a defenseman in Rod Brind’Amour’s infamous possession-based system.

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