I believe that trading Ryan Miller makes the most sense for this team if they want to rebuild and hopefully build a future winner. It makes no sense 1.) keeping a goalie who is 33 and will be 34 next season and 2.) keeping a goalie who is set to be an unrestricted free agent who doesn't seem to want to be here or else he'd sign already and they are in last place by a mile. Everyone is upset and panicking what will they do without Miller. Um hello, they are in last place, they aren't winning anything with him playing as well as he is.
If you say they'd be even worse, I think you're wrong I don't think they can really be that much worse. They have the fewest goals scored with 110 and they're 25 behind the team with the next fewest. They're 15 wins are the least and they are 5 wins behind the next team which is Edmonton with 20 and their 38 points are nine fewer than Edmonton, who is the second-worst team in the NHL. It can't get much worse than that. What they win 3-5 fewer games and have 10 fewer points? Big whoop. The Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, Florida Panthers, and New York Islanders are really, really bad but they are miles ahead of the Sabres. For me I like it because it means they have a really strong shot at the #1 overall pick in this June's draft and this team needs as many great players as possible and you get them at the top of the draft.
If you're gonna be upset that they'd trade Miller rather than re-sign him, would you rather risk losing him for nothing instead of hopefully getting a 1st round pick and maybe even a prospect? I don't think he's re-signing here and I don't think GM Tim Murray is interested in giving a long-term deal. So because of foolish pride, you'd risk losing him in free agency rather than getting something for him? I can understand if this team was say 7th, 8th, or even 9th place and are trying to get into the playoffs and don't want to lose him for the playoff run, but this team is in last place!!! It should be even easier to let him go and get over it.
This isn't like when we lost Briere and Drury after the 2007 season for nothing as they both signed deals with other teams as unrestricted free agents. The team came off a President's Trophy season and came off back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals appearances and were Stanley Cup contenders. I don't care what anyone thinks, the Sabres are still struggling to replace both those men as they will miss the playoffs for the 5th time in 7 years. It's also not like losing Dominik Hasek, yea we traded him but got nothing no where near what we should have in return because he didn't want Detroit to give up too much so he can win the Stanley Cup. Hasek took us to an Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 1998 and all the way to Game Six of the Stanley Cup Finals in 1999 and even lost in the 2nd round in overtime in Game Seven against Pittsburgh before he left. The team was very competitive and fell apart. But in this case, they are the worst team in hockey and it ain't even close.
I want to say I like Miller a lot and I hate to see him go. I appreciate all he has done here for the Sabres, for WNY, and for USA Hockey. I'll root for him of course in the Olympics and I'll even root for him if he leaves because I want him to succeed. I know what many of you are thinking: "if you like him and think he's so good, why do you want him traded? This team needs great players and why get rid of our best?" That is a great question and here is the answer. Because a goalie, even a really good one like Miller, really can't do much by himself on a terrible team.
Many of you are thinking "but if we build a better team, then it would help him out." True so why not just build a better team then? In the NHL, it's important to find a good goalie but you don't need a top-notch goalie to win. Teams have won post 2004-05 Lockout with decent, OK goalies but with better talent in forwards and defense. Notice I didn't say terrible goalie but if you can find a mediocre to slightly mediocre one and put him on a great team, they'll win no matter what. The goalies are pretty much similar as there are only a couple of elite and only a couple of really bad ones, everyone else is pretty much the same. So my question is if goalies are pretty much the same, then why pay big bucks for one when you can put money into much better forwards and defensemen and win with an average goalie?
It's about goal scoring and how do you score? With great puck possession numbers!! I looked at the top-8 teams in the NHL in terms of points (Chicago, Anaheim, St. Louis, Boston, Pittsburgh, San Jose, Colorado, and Tampa Bay) and all 8 of those teams are in the top-12 in goals scored and all are in the top-9 in puck possession. Guess where the Sabres rank? You guess it!! Dead last. Last year they were second-to-last only to the analytics nightmare known as the Toronto Maple Leafs. If you spend more time in your end than in the other team's end, then you will not score many goals and have more goals scored on you. So what would be the point of having a great, high-priced goalie who gets all these shots and goals scored on? It's not just stop the puck, there's all these bounces and deflections that go in all the time that you can't stop if you are in your own end. Conversely, if you are in the other team's end, then you'll get all the bounces and deflections. This team needs to be better possessing the puck. If a Miller trade can help enable that, then I'm all for it.
Miller is in the last year of his current deal which is worth $6.25 million a season, currently the 5th highest paid goalie in the NHL. To re-sign him you probably have to pay him in the $7-8 million a year range to keep him here as it appears he might want to move closer to his wife. Then you gotta give him 5-7 years so he'd be in his 40s by the time the contract is done. I don't want to do that. I looked up the goalie salaries and seven of the top-10 goalies are either barely in the playoffs, on the outside looking in, or completely out of the playoffs. That doesn't even include Henrik Lunqvist, whose $7.5 million a year deal doesn't kick in until next season, making him the highest-paid goalie in the NHL. I just don't get it, I'd never give a goalie that kind of money. Lundqvist and Jonathan Quick are the two best but teams paying goalies in the $2-3 million range are winning and are near or at the top of the league.
Players such as Ben Scrivens, Ben Bishop, Josh Harding, Cory Schneider, Frederik Andersen, Brian Elliott, and Jaroslav Halak are among the leaders in save percentage and goals against average and outperforming their much higher-paid counterparts. It shows if you have a great team, you can win with almost any goalie. Quick is having a great season, but was injured early in the year and Scrivens did well in his place and even third-string goalie Maritn Jones has played very well which led the Kings to trade Scrivens to Edmonton once Quick was healthy. Scrivens is doing well on a terrible Oilers team with no defense. Last year, Ray Emery, who was a big disappointment in the NHL, went 17-1-0 with a .922 save % and a 1.94 goals against average. Is it because Emery is good or the Blackhawks are great? Well it's because the Blackhawks are great. Emery is struggling on a worse Flyers team. Would you rather have Emery on a great Blackhawks team or Miller on a terrible Sabres team? I'd hope you'd answer Emery, but I can't control what you think or believe.
I want this organization and the fans to think they can win without Miller because it's probably gonna happen. That's what I hated about this organization under Darcy Regier is that they thought they can't dare win without Miller or they were doomed. The fans were conditioned to think the same. He's good but you can win without him. Miller as good as he is couldn't help this team from missing the playoffs five out of the last seven years including this year. The team was bad. When the Sabres were awesome in 2005-06 and 2006-07, they won with Miller and Martin Biron, in fact I believe Biron had something like a 12-game unbeaten streak one point. Even when the Sabres made the playoffs in 2011, Jhonas Enroth played very well in relief of Miller down the stretch run as he went 9-2-2 and an 8-game unbeaten streak which helped them make the playoffs I don't care what anybody says. Enroth's numbers are very similar to Miller's and can't do much more without a competant offense and team in front of him more than Miller can and he makes about 1/5 of the money Miller makes. We can win with Enroth (I'm not saying he's better than Miller but he's not worse) or any kid down in Rochester or anyone floating around the NHL.
I hate to say it, but it's time fans to move on from Miller and start over with a brand new identity that focuses on scoring and puck possession while the goalie is what he is supposed to be, the last line of defense. But go Miller and Team USA!!! Let's win the Gold!!
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