The Penguins still looking at J.T. Miller trade, but should they?

 

 

Well, the internet, and especially Twitter is buzzing about trade talks between Pittsburgh and Vancouver for JT Miller.

The real question I want to answer is, should they?

The internet will tell you yes because he’s just “so good”, but just because a player puts up great point totals doesn’t translate to a “great fit”.

I’m sure Vancouver GM Patrik Allvin and Club President Jim Rutherford would love to offload that big 7-year contract costing them a small sum of $56,000,000 at $8,000,000 a year. Lots of regrets for that deal as J.T. Miller is known as a locker room cancer, which is also very evident on the Ice.

We won’t be all negative Nancy to start though, Let’s go over the benefit of a J.T. Miller deal before we get into why they might not want to follow through.

Versatility

One of Miller’s greatest strengths is his versatility. He’s able to play both center and wing, which makes him a valuable asset for any team. Miller is comfortable playing in any situation, whether it’s on the power play, penalty kill, or even strength. He’s also able to adapt to different line combinations and play styles, which makes him an ideal teammate. Miller’s versatility is a major reason why he’s been so successful in the NHL.

Scoring Touch

Miller is also an effective scorer. He has a great shot and a quick release, which allows him to score goals from a variety of angles and distances. In the 2019-20 season, Miller had a breakout year, scoring 27 goals and adding 45 assists for a total of 72 points in 69 games. He finished the season with a shooting percentage of 15.2%, which is well above the league average. In the 21-22 season Miller had his biggest season yet with 32 goals and 67 assists for 99 points in 80 games, if he’d played those two extra games he would of most likely had that nice total of 100 points. Miller’s scoring touch makes him a threat every time he’s on the ice, and he’s one of the key offensive weapons for the Vancouver Canucks.

Playmaking Ability

In addition to his scoring touch, Miller is also an excellent playmaker. He has great vision and hockey sense, which allows him to set up his teammates for scoring chances. Miller is able to make quick, accurate passes in traffic, and he has a knack for finding open players in scoring positions. He can also just make space or create plays by simply skating until he finds a play, he can be hard to lock down and that can be dangerous for an opposing team that becomes distracted by him, which leaves him with opportunities to make something happen.

Physicality

Miller is also known for his physicality on the ice. He’s a big, strong player at 6’1 and 218 lbs, who isn’t afraid to throw his weight around and get involved in the physical aspects of the game. In Millers, last 5 games he’s had 24 hits and 6 of those alone came in his last game. Miller is able to use his size and strength to win battles along the boards and in front of the net, which allows him to create scoring opportunities for himself and his teammates. Miller’s physicality also makes him an effective penalty killer, as he’s able to disrupt opposing power plays and win battles for loose pucks.

Should they make the trade?

So all that sounds great, why shouldn’t we get him? Well the first reason for me is he’s 30 years old, I mean my god can this team get one player who is under 30 and in their 20’s?

The only way I would be less upset with the age is if they plan on selling off a lot of the roster and letting younger players either get a shot or have a bigger role such as William Nylander, Drew O’Connor, Sam Poulin, Valtteri Puustinen, and Filip Hallander. (Edit: Whoops William Nylander? I wish! I didn’t notice that slipped in, I’m going to leave that in. Maybe the hockey gods will bless us, I, of course, meant Alex Nylander) I would in fact take any of those players over guys like Jeff Carter, Mikael Granlund, and Josh Archibald.

In fairness, anything is better than Jeff Carter, they could put a real-life penguin on the ice and just slap a helmet and give him a stick and he would probably play better than Carter.

Following his age you have the same problem that has caused Vancouver to try and sell him in the first place which is that he’s toxic to a locker room. Multiple players have alluded to that fact, but as I said before it’s more than evident on the ice.

An example is when he yelled at Goaltender Colin Delia to get off the ice so they could get an extra man on, in a game against the Jets.

The problem was that Miller skated back into his own zone with the puck, so Delia actually made the right call not leaving for the bench. J.T. Miller proceeded to have a hissy fit, and vocally yelled at Delia then skated behind the net and slamed his stick on the back of the net.

Now I don’t know about you, but that’s pathetic behavior from a veteran player, you could maybe chalk that up to a bad game but that just does not seem to be the case based on what has been rumored. Imagine going to the back after the game, not a good setting I’d imagine.

Do the Penguins want to take that problem on? Being stuck with his $8,000,000 a year plus smacked on top of that is a NMC for the next 7 years, and he’s currently 30 and that contract would take him until he’s 37 and he would be coming to a roster of 30+ players? That just sounds like a lot of headaches and problems to me.

Maybe they think Sullivan and Crosby can reign him in, and that he would change his tune a bit on a new team, and partly that is the case, he doesn’t want to play in Vancouver he’s said as much and it’s clear from his attitude on the ice. The Cancuks will miss the playoffs again, they are just not quite there yet and I don’t think Miller wants to wait until he’s in his mid-thirties to get a shot at a Stanley Cup.

Next problem, how are the Penguins making this deal? Kind of tight against the cap there guys.

Now I don’t believe that it’s impossible, Vegas was able to acquire Jack Eichel and they were strapped for cash, but I can’t imagine that if the deal goes through we’ll magically end up with more cap space.

Is Hextall or whatever GM most likely replaces him going to give up a beloved first-round pick? We shall see, but it’s Jim Rutherford and I truly believe he’d sell J.T. Miller for a bag of pucks, we know how Rutherford likes doing charity work.

If they could somehow work in taking Jeff Carter off the Penguins that would go a long way in making this deal look a lot better, maybe even great, not saying that Vancouver wants him, but if they want to pass on J.T. Miller, they’re going to have to take some cap pressure off of the Penguins.

Who knows, time will tell, what do you think? For now, I would be wary of how this could go down, but J.T. Miller does bring a presence that the Penguins are lacking, and he’s a big star, there’s no questioning that, but is he the right one for the Penguins? I might lean towards no, but you never know.

Interesting times for the Penguins…

EDIT/UPDATE

NHL Trade Rumor posted the following from Elliotte Friedman.

“Elliotte Friedman was on his 32 Thoughts Podcast and was discussing the potential Miller trade to Pittsburgh with Jeff Marek.

Friedman stated one of the reasons the Penguins deal for J.T. Miller didn’t happen is because the Pens had to unload Jason Zucker’s contract to fit Miller’s in and the Canucks were on Zucker’s no-trade list.

The Canucks did think about flipping Zucker to another team but had no time to find the right 3rd party trade partner.

Friedman went on to say in his podcast that the deal was too complicated to complete at the NHL trade deadline and could be revisited at the 2023 NHL Entry Draft.“