In a normal season, any sort of January trade would be notable. This season, there's barely room to breathe in between breaking news announcements.

Unlike the Mikko Rantanen stunner, J.T. Miller's return to New York seemed inevitable for weeks. The Canucks felt their locker room dynamics were untenable and Rangers general manager Chris Drury had been after Miller from the moment he took the job in New York. Add in a delirious season that necessitated new blood at Madison Square Garden and it's almost surprising it took this long for the two sides to formalize the deal.

Does the Miller trade address what's wrong in New York? What can Vancouver expect from the players they acquired? Let's analyze the deal for both sides.

New York Rangers

This is a tricky one to assess for the New York Rangers.

J.T. Miller is having a nightmare season in practically every facet. He's playing at a 71-point pace his worst in the last seven seasons and has nine goals in 40 games. But let's chalk that up to the low-morale environment in Vancouver.

Miller, more typically, is one of the best offensive producers in the NHL. He scored 32-plus goals in each of the previous three seasons and yet primarily serves as a playmaker. In fact, over that span, Miller ranked 10th in the entire league in total points. He is flashy, combining speed, first-class puck skill, and quick strikes to create offense in motion.

And whereas the Rangers have almost exclusively moved assets for temporary fixes the last few seasons, Miller is under contract for five more seasons. To get a player of his caliber for the cost of a young middle-six center, a depth prospect, and a protected first-round pick is quite decidedly in the Rangers' favor.

Here are the problems. Miller is a bit over-reliant on the power play to produce. This is concerning for two reasons. First, there isn't a natural spot for him on the team's top unit. As a lefty, Miller is not a like-for-like swap for right-handed Mika Zibanejad, should he be the player to be demoted.

The bigger concern is that Miller doesn't address the Rangers' biggest weaknesses. This team is in desperate need of a stalwart, cornerstone first-line center. Miller may be good, but he is not that. He is not a good defensive center and, unlike in Vancouver where he could play behind Elias Pettersson, he will unequivocally have to be the guy in New York. This team struggles to defend and drive possession at even strength but has elite offensive-zone chance creation. Miller is just more of the same in that regard.

One has to wonder about the timing of this move about the organizational trajectory. This team is barely a coinflip to so much as make the playoffs. Next season he will be 32 years old. The Rangers are already heavily reliant on old forwards to drive them and trading Chytil means that the team does not have a single notable center in the entire organization under the age of 31 years old.

It's worth mentioning, too, that the team's defense needs a total makeover. It will be harder to pull that off now having traded three of your best assets to make it happen. Miller is a volatile player in many regards. It's easy to imagine Miller becoming a part of a quick rebound and revival of the contention window. It's also a move that leaves the team extremely vulnerable in terms of roster flexibility, organizational age, and asset accumulation.

Let's be clear. Miller makes the Rangers a better team and is easily the second-best forward on the roster now behind only Artemi Panarin. The Rangers' roster construction is still fundamentally flawed, and introducing someone who offers only more of the same will not change that fact, regardless of how fiery his personality may be. It remains to be seen how General Manager Chris Drury will build around Miller and utilize a weakened pool of assets to create a lineup that possesses the defensive structure and even-strength play necessary to compete with other contenders.

Grade: B-

Vancouver Canucks

Filip Chytil was about as good of an NHLer as the Canucks were ever realistically going to receive in return for Miller. The Czech center had a career year in 2022-23 with 22 goals and 23 assists in 74 games. In 2023-24 he started strongly only to have his entire season upended by a severe head injury. More on that later.

The 25-year-old Chytil blends really strong north-south skating with a soft touch on the puck. He's a force in possession and, in New York, he was typically the player on his line trusted to transport pucks up the ice. He is dynamic in the offensive zone, finding open space with ease, and he has an above-average release on his wrist shot. There's enough skill there for the occasional impressive solo effort to beat defenders with speed and then put a move on the goaltender.

Despite his size (6'2", 210 pounds), he has yet to fulfill his potential as a bully in physical situations. This leads to a major concern.

Chytil seems to be a magnet for being on the wrong side of big collisions. The head injury that forced him to miss most of the 2023-24 season was not the first of that type in his medical history and this season he twice sat for short stints with vague "upper-body" impediments. There are legitimate questions about Chytil's shelf life in hockey. It's a shame because of how talented he is. He seemed on the precipice of a permanent second-line promotion in New York and, if he can stay healthy, there's every reason to believe he can fill that spot in Vancouver both immediately and long-term.

Victor Mancini, 22, is a late bloomer as a prospect. Drafted in the fifth round in 2022 as a 19-year-old, Mancini was fairly pedestrian for Nebraska-Omaha in the NCAA. Upon turning pro, his game took off immediately. He's 6'3" and nearly 230 pounds but is a very powerful skater. He's produced offense in the AHL and had five points in 15 NHL games this season. He still has a lot of work to do in terms of processing the game. He struggled mightily on the defensive side of play, seeming always one step behind what was happening around him. If he can learn to think the game at NHL speeds then he could become a lively No. 5 defenseman.

The first-round pick could go many ways. One can imagine the Rangers getting hot and going on a playoff run, thereby making this a run-of-the-mill late first-round pick. However, the Blueshirts are currently on the outside of the playoff picture. It's just as likely they don't even cut. Granted, the 2025 NHL Draft is not very strong after the top four picks, but this pick could easily land in the range of 15th overall. That would make this trade slightly more palatable.

On value, the Canucks lose this trade. Nobody disputes this and that presumably includes Canucks President Jim Rutherford. You don't trade a top-10 scorer on a long-term contract unless you have to, and Vancouver felt they had to.

Given the circumstances — the very public problems in Vancouver, Miller's no-trade protection, limited salary cap room around the league — they did enough to at least save face here. Chytil is not Miller but he is a quality NHL player. Mancini has legitimate NHL upside. The first-round pick could end up in the middle of the round.

If this trade helps Elias Pettersson return to elite play and saves his career in Vancouver, then it will have been worth it.

Grade: C-