Quoting: Elabron
Why is he a pure rental? Why can't they extend him? Pacioretty and Staal come off the books next year and that's $13 Million, I don't see why they couldn't make a big playoff push this year and keep him next year.
Just because 13mil might come off the books next year, doesn’t mean the Canes will give Miller the extension he wants, because they won’t. He will be on the wrong side of 30 when he is due his next contract, and he wants something along the lines of an 8x8, there is no chance the Canes are doing that. Besides, Miller almost certainly won’t get more than DeBrincat, so you can scratch the narrative that they will get a top prospect, young roster player, and high draft capital.
Given the fact the Canes won’t sign Miller to that albatross of a contract he wants, in this hypothetical scenario, Miller becomes a pure rental. The Canes have historically not been a team to give a ton of value for rentals. Key examples of this are Domi and Mark Recchi. The biggest piece they traded between both these rental moves, was a second round pick, and for Domi it was a prospect selected in the 3rd round. As for resigning Miller, you are also assuming that Patches and Staal don’t get resigned. Not to mention, with the majority of the core being due the next season after, with even more needing new contract the year after that, the Canes aren’t going to mortgage their roster and let players like Turbo and Skjei walk just so they can sign Miller. The Canes aren’t trading good value for Miller. Period. If Miller ever ends up in Carolina, it will be in free agency, and there are better and younger players that would be available next year, so Miller has a close to 0% chance of ever playing in a Canes jersey.