Exclusive | KAndre Miller looking to raise Rangers game to another level after offseason reset
On the night of June 22, 2018, K’Andre Miller mounted the podium at American Airlines Arena in Dallas after having been selected 22nd overall in the first round by the Rangers and at age 18 talked about how he hoped to be an influence off the ice as well as on it.Six years later, on the night of June 28, 2024, E.J.Emery mounted the podium at the Sphere in Las Vegas after having been selected 30th overall in the first round by the Rangers and at age 18 said that he considered Miller a role model.“That’s awesome,” Miller told The Post following Thursday’s first day on-ice workout conducted with November-type pace.
“We talked on the phone a little bit shortly after the draft and kept in touch this summer.So it was good.
He’s a really good kid.”Emery, a 6-foot-3 righty defenseman out of the U.S.National Development Program, is a freshman at North Dakota, where he will become the school’s first black player in 30 years, since Akil Adams skated with the squad from 1992 through 1994.“Obviously I was in that same position a couple of years ago and I know I had guys I was looking up to and tried to emulate,” Miller said.
“Honestly, to myself, that was me, going to the rink at a young age trying to find guys, as I said, you look up to.You look up to guys you want to be like.
To a degree, that’s everybody at that age.“So I think having a circle around you that’s going to push you and hold you accountable to be the best version of yourself is really how you make it here.It’s just so important to have that support system to keep you on track.”Miller, 24, is entering his fifth year in the league.
He’s been on the ice with the Blueshirts since prospect camp in 2018.But the 6-5, 215-pounder showed up with a dramatically different look this time with his brown hair frosted blonde in an homage to Odell Beckham Jr.“I haven’t come up with a name yet but it is fully inspired by Odell Beckham Jr.
when he was with the Giants,” said Miller, w...