The rumor mill has been churning in full force the past week. Russo posted
this gamer following the Sharks loss last week and implicated Miller as a trade target. Fast forward to this past weekend and tension
seems to be building between Fiala and Dean. Yesterday,
this article surfaced indicating Guerin has made a call to Vancouver regarding JT Miller and the author speculated that Fiala could be the main piece in a Miller trade. Today,
this article is hot off the press and indicates one team that has been monitoring Miller and, you guessed it, it's the Wild.
This Fiala+ for Miller framework seems more like two reporters connecting dots, but here's what we know:
1. Fiala is unhappy. This is pretty obvious based on his recent comments, his reported ask for "Kaprizov money" during contract extension talks this past summer, and the aforementioned tension with Dean.
2. Guerin is interested in Miller
3. If we want Miller, we probably have to move Fiala in order to fit him into our cap next year. At the very least we will need to move out a bigger contract either in a trade for Miller and if not, then this offseason.
Player for player, Miller is the better asset as he can play center (although it's unclear whether or not he has played it for long stints, based off what I've read and heard he is mainly a winger), he has higher point totals in both the regular and post-season, and he players a grittier game. The nice thing about both players is that their stats on their current teams come from pretty similar sample sizes.
Miller has played his best hockey in Vancouver:
Regular season: 141 gp, 49 goals, 137 points, 2910 TOI, 2.82 p/60, 260 hits
Playoffs: 17 gp, 6 goals, 19 points, 350 TOI, 3.26 p/60, 40 hits
Fiala has played his best hockey in Minnesota:
Regular season: 151 gp, 49 goals, 113 points, 2490 TOI, 2.72 p/60, 79 hits
Playoffs: 11 gp, 4 goals, 6 points, 191 TOI, 1.88 p/60, 27 hits
The tl;dr version is that Miller has been a little better in the regular season and a lot better in the postseason.
What does everyone think? Are you in favor of adding Miller?