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NEW YORK -- K'Andre Miller is back in New York and was on the ice at Madison Square Garden for the morning skate, but this will not be the dream return against his former team that the Carolina Hurricanes defenseman was hoping for when he eyed the schedule. Miller will not play for the Hurricanes against the New York Rangers on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, MSG, SN1). The defenseman, who spent the past five seasons in New York, will instead miss his sixth consecutive game with a lower-body injury. "Obviously, this is one of the games you mark on your calendar from whenever the schedule comes out," Miller said. "So, yeah, this one stings a little bit, but I'll take the right approach to my body, my health. I think that's the most important thing and make sure I'm ready for a big push." Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said Miller is close to returning, but is not quite 100 percent and they won't put him back in the lineup until he gets there. The Rangers traded Miller to Carolina on July 1, and he immediately signed an eight-year, $60 million contract with the Hurricanes. The 25-year-old, who had 132 points (36 goals, 96 points) in 368 games with the Rangers from 2020-25, was off to a strong start to this season with four points (two goals, two assists) in six games before sustaining his injury against the Vegas Golden Knights on Oct. 20. "He couldn't have played much better at the start," Brind'Amour said. "I was so impressed. It's the range, it's the skating ability. We might be almost burned but we close it off just because we have got two extra feet of reach. And his skating ability fits perfectly, getting up the ice and doing everything. He was kind of doing it all for us there until he went out. That's a big piece we're missing." Miller actually is one of three big defensemen the Hurricanes are missing. Jaccob Slavin and Shayne Gostisbehere are also out with lower-body injuries. Slavin will miss his 10th straight game, and Gostisbehere his third in a row and sixth in seven. Carolina has lost three of its past four games and four of six after starting the season opening the season with five consecutive wins. The injuries have forced the Hurricanes to dive deeper into their pool of defensemen than they would ever like to do. Mike Reilly was Carolina's seventh defenseman at the start of the season, a healthy scratch for the first two games before Slavin got hurt. Rookies Charles Alexis Legault and Joel Nystrom started the season in Chicago of the American Hockey League. Nystrom will be playing his sixth straight game Tuesday after making his NHL debut on Oct. 23. Legault will also be playing his sixth NHL game. He made his debut on Oct. 20. In addition, Alexander Nikishin is also a rookie. Opening night this season was his NHL regular-season debut after the defenseman played in four games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season. "Pretty irreplaceable guy with Jaccob Slavin, 'Key' has been amazing for us and obviously 'Ghost' running our power play and was off to such a hot start," defenseman Sean Walker said. "So definitely missing those guys, but you do what to play the same way and everyone is trying to do that to the best of our abilities. I think we've done a pretty good job." Brind'Amour agrees. He doesn't think the defense group, especially the rookies, are culprits in why the Hurricanes have struggled recently. "They've been fine," Brind'Amour said. "They're hanging in there and they're learning on the fly." Miller will return and replace one of them soon, possibly as soon as Thursday, when the Hurricanes play the Minnesota Wild at Lenovo Center. The Hurricanes will surely welcome his return, but it still won't take the sting away from losing out on his first chance to play his former team Tuesday, especially when Slavin and Gostisbehere are also out. However, there's always Nov. 26, when the Rangers visit Raleigh for the first time this season, and then again on Dec. 29. The Hurricanes will be back at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 5. "Since I've been here, I don't remember us going down on 'D' like this really ever," Hurricanes defenseman Jalen Chatfield said. "I think maybe once or twice we had a few guys out, but we have three guys missing right now, three key players. It's definitely different, but we've got great players. These guys have all been here in the summer, played great in the preseason, so we're happy to have them."
