That’s an interesting move to shift Barzal to the wing.

i don’t see us being a fit for miller (i assume the canucks would want dobson above all else, and he’s absolutely untouchable imo)

It would be a terrible move

Barzal is not moving to wing

Yea, I think they'll have to at least consider it. Barzal isn't great on draws and gets kinda lost in his own end. But should definitely have freedom to roam when we're attacking

Isles just don't have the pieces to acquire Miller unless they move Dobson

He’s pretty awful on faceoffs. Not necessarily the worst move. It blows my mind why teams leave guys as centers when they can’t win a faceoff to save their lives.

Faceoffs have very little impact on possession and the result of games. Barzals skillset is pretty much tailor made for the center position. His skating, vision, playmaking and puck handling. Barzal would request a trade if they tried to move him to wing.

Wouldn’t surprise me.

lol

You realize there's more to being a center than just taking faceoffs right?

First Van wouldn't do this.

Second, Why would the Isles do this? Miller will want a big contract the following year. So you giving up all this young talent for 1 year rental? And if you say he'll re-sign for how much? he's going to want a heck more than the 5.25M he's getting now.

You can’t expect to put a cap dump and 2 very meh players and then add a first to get a 99 point player

Not surprised...Everyone getting caught up in semantics as usual.
Barzal would still be the acting centre when Isles have possession.

Miller would just line up to take draws and take on all the defensive responsibilities.

He has trouble on the defensive side. Especially when up against other teams Top players.

Lining up next to Miller adds some cover and gives the team a lot of flexibility.

And again, it's not intended to restrict his freedom when it comes to skating with the puck. It's actually intended to help enhance it!

Miller would just line up to take draws and take on all the defensive responsibilities. Barzy would still have carte Blanche to run the show when Isles are in possession.

that is not true, Barzal's underlying numbers are actually very good against elite competition .

3 out of the last 4 seasons Barzal has been better than Miller defensively. Miller is awful defensively.

If Miller takes the defensive responsibilities , that would mean he's playing center. And there's no reason for Miller to take on that responsibility when he's not even good at it.

There is no correlation between winning face-offs and possession so there's no reason to have Miller take the face-offs in the first place

This is interesting. I'll take a closer look. But from my perspective, it might be because Barzy hasn't really been matched up against top competition all that often. And I mean real top competition.

For example Brayden Point made him look terrible in the last conf finals. Guy just got out worked and didn't have an answer.

But I'll take a closer look.

That isn't true at all. When Isles are in possession, barzal would be the acting centre. Then they'd switch. Call it whatever u want tho. Don't want to get caught up in semantics.

But point taken on miller's effectiveness on defensive side. I'll take a closer look at that.

Points line outscored Barzals line 3-2 in the ECF , Point had Kucherov on his line, Barzal had Leo Komarov. Barzals line also outshot Points line in 3 of the 7 games, so not sure how Point made Barzal look terrible

Barzal has been matched up against top completion and he has thrived in that role.

over the last 3 years , J.T miller is in the 19th percentile for defensive impact , meaning 81% of NHL forwards are better defensively . This also accounts for completion, linemates, and zone starts
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Thanks for this. I guess Miller isn't the right fit.
I'll keep trying tho!