Rangers' Vincent Trocheck emotional about chance to play with best friend J.T. Miller

J.T. Miller of the Rangers skates by the team bench and celebrates with his teammates after scoring a goal against the Boston Bruins during the first period at TD Garden on Saturday in Boston. Credit: Getty Images/Brian Fluharty
BOSTON — Getting J.T. Miller back meant a lot to the Rangers, who hope the 31-year-old center will help them earn a playoff spot and do some damage once they get there.
But to Vincent Trocheck, it’s a lot more personal than that.
“He’s my best friend in the world,’’ Trocheck said after Miller scored two goals in the first game of his second tenure with the Rangers on Saturday at TD Garden. The Blueshirts still lost to the Bruins, 6-3.
Trocheck called it “a pipe dream for 10 years in the making’’ that he and Miller eventually would play together on the same team in the NHL.
“We grew up since we were 9 years old together, lived about 500 yards from each other back in Pittsburgh, our kids are really close,’’ said Trocheck, his voice breaking and tears forming in his eyes. “I’m sorry, it’s embarrassing. But we’ve been talking about it forever, so it means a lot.
“It’s just a cool experience to be able to play with your best friend in the NHL.’’
Miller — who was acquired late Friday night from the Vancouver Canucks along with prospect defensemen Erik Brannstrom and Jackson Dorrington for center Filip Chytil, prospect defenseman Victor Mancini and a top-13-protected first-round pick — got to Boston at about 3 a.m. Saturday and centered the top line between Artemi Panarin and long-ago teammate Mika Zibanejad.
The trade was made after the Canucks decided the personality clash between Miller and fellow star center Elias Pettersson had become untenable. Because Miller had a full no-move clause in his contract, he was able to dictate to whom he could be traded. He said after the game that he wanted to go to the Rangers, who drafted him in the first round, 15th overall, in 2011.
“I mean, things change along the way, but just for my family . . . there’s a thousand reasons to want to come here,’’ he said. “And then with the hockey team as well. It’s been one of the best teams in the league for the last four years in a row. And I’m excited to be a part of kind of trying to get them back into the playoff picture.’’
“It’s certainly an exciting day, exciting night last night, to acquire J.T. Miller, certainly one of the premier impact forwards in the NHL,’’ Rangers general manager Chris Drury said in a morning Zoom call with reporters. “He brings a unique combination of skill, size, physicality to our team. [And] he not just helps us here in the short term but will be a key part of our core moving forward.’’
“He’s a power forward that can play the game hard, he can score goals, he can make plays,’’ coach Peter Laviolette said before the game. “He’s got an edge to his game, he can play different positions. So it’s a big piece.’’
The 6-1, 218-pound Miller played the first 5 1⁄2 seasons of his NHL career with the Rangers before being traded to Tampa Bay by the previous general manager, Jeff Gorton, at the February 2018 deadline at the start of the Blueshirts’ rebuild.
A promising young player who had 72 goals and 152 points in his first go-around with the Rangers, he blossomed into a star with Tampa Bay and Vancouver and had 37 goals and 103 points for the Canucks last season.
In 40 games with Vancouver this season, he had nine goals and 35 points.
In his first tour with the Rangers, he wore jersey No. 10, and in Vancouver, he wore No. 9. But with Panarin now wearing 10 with the Rangers and 9 retired for Adam Graves and Andy Bathgate, Miller was assigned uniform No. 8 — last worn by since-traded former captain Jacob Trouba.
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