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It’s not “completely debunked” though. Apparently it’s a common enough prank where a vet will pretend to lose the puck. The rumors involve Miller, and others Ranger, not finding DeAngelo’s version of the it a very good natured version of the prank to say the least.
There’s no photo for Miller. There’s a photo of Lafreniere w/ is his 1st goal puck, so it’s not a COVID thing. Some people have made the argument that they don’t “celebrate” losses but players like Kakko got a photo w/ his 1st goal puck from a drubbing in a loss.
Maybe Miller was so broken up by the loss to Buffalo that he didn’t want a photo. Typically though regular season milestone photos aren’t tied to regular season wins or losses.
As others have pointed out, the quote from Miller’s agent is, at best, “a very soft rebuttal”. All the quote says is that, as far as Miller knows, the puck isn’t missing now. That doesn’t disprove the prank story.
The reason people are skeptical about these excuses is that does feel like the Rangers are covering this up with typical ham-fisted spin. It’s almost comical how a typical few team friendly supposed “source leaks” popped up after that story because public. Miller actually broke up the fight! Miller reached out to Tony via text! And his defenders eat up the obvious spin with a spoon.
I believe there’s a real chance DeAngelo did that prank but I wouldn’t swear to it. I also personally don’t want to push for the “truth to come out” because it doesn’t look like Miller wants to be forced to talk about. If Miller himself doesn’t want talk about it then what does all this grandstanding get us?
And Miller’s position is understandable, young non-white players’ careers don’t do well after they complain about this sort of thing. It’s grotesque, but Miller would be seen as a trouble maker for airing the team’s dirty laundry.
That’s why I don’t want this drag into interviews with Miller about DeAngelo. Miller turned 21 twelve days ago, why does he be the adult in the room and unpack this for everybody? He’s not the asshole.
And If you want to believe Rangers management handwaving and spin on this as concrete proof the prank didn’t at all go right ahead, I don’t need to play internet debate club.
Carp started that rumor by speculating, saying without evidence that sometimes pranks like that happen. Later, he reiterated that it was just baseless speculation, and added that he had since spoken to a Rangers VP of press relations, who said Miller didn't get a picture because the Rangers aren't traveling with their full PR contingent due to Covid.