The New York Rangers were a team that did not come close to fulfilling its potential last season. They did not even make the playoffs even though many observers expected them to have a deep playoff run that could have propelled them to the Stanley Cup Finals.
Here's how JT Miller explained the slogan:
"It's quite literal. Honestly, we haven't got a whole lot into it, the team stuff yet. We just kind of got here. But it literally means, ‘Let's stick to the team game.’ We want to be a fast, in your face, F-U type of team. What are… https://t.co/u1tml3EZio
— Vince Z. Mercogliano (@vzmercogliano) September 18, 2025
They failed to respond to the coaching of Peter Laviolette or the leadership on the team. They finished fifth in the Metropolitan Division and that was deemed unacceptable by management. The Rangers brought in Mike Sullivan as their new head coach and the team named center JT Miller as their new captain.
Miller was acquired at the trade deadline last season from the Vancouver Canucks, and general manager Chris Drury and Sullivan believe that he can fill the team's needs when it comes to leadership.
Miller and his teammates are wearing t-shirts with a message that portends a significant change in attitude from the team that took the ice a year ago. The back of the t-shirts has the letters B.S. highlighted with a line going through the letters. The team is hoping to stamp out the idea that the Rangers will be a soft team in the upcoming season.
Rangers looking to demonstrate their toughness in 2025-26 season
Instead, the Rangers will try to deliver nastiness and aggression on a nightly basis this year, seemingly the opposite of the way they played for the majority of last season.
The new Rangers captain tried to explain what the t-shirts were all about. “It's quite literal. Honestly, we haven't got a whole lot into it, the team stuff yet,” Miller said. “We just kind of got here. But it literally means, ‘Let's stick to the team game.’ We want to be a fast, in your face, F-U type of team. What are (other teams) going to say about the Rangers in their room? What do we want them to think about us? ‘They're a team that's not going to give you an easy night, type of team.' Without getting too far into, I think that's kind of what that means.”
The message is not an unfamiliar one in the NHL. Nearly every team will state that it wants to be difficult to play against and that the team will display an aggressive demeanor on a game-in, game-out basis. It's now up to Miller and teammates like Vincent Trocheck, Artemi Panarin, Alexis Lafreniere, Adam Fox and Braden Schneider to demonstrate that toughness on an every-game basis.
