Team: 2022-23 Vancouver Canucks

Initial Creation Date: Jun. 21, 2022

Published: Jun. 21, 2022

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

There's three reasons as to why I don't buy the idea of Miller being an asset that brings an absolutely massive haul from other teams for VAN.

Reason 1 - he's a rental. Yes, you could argue that VAN could make a Jones-esque swap with him, but the situation is a bit different between Miller and Jones. For starters, Jones was 26 when he was traded and is 27 when that major extension kicks in, while Miller is 29. For VAN to reach the value Jones got, there needs to be a massive long-term extension in place, which would kick in when he's 30. How many GMs are willing to risk signing Miller into a close-to-max term contract that will carry him until he's 37 or 38? Very few I'd wager.

Reason 2 - the year he had was a massive outlier. Throughout his career he has been a 50-60 point kind of guy with offensive upside for 70 points when things go really well. The fact that he hit almost 100 points is in itself very impressive, but also very unlikely for him to repeat. How many GMs are willing to take a chance on him doing that again, and spend a fortune on him because of it. Very few I'd wager.

Reason 3 - available roles in the long term. For a team to be seriously interested in investing on Miller, there should be an obvious need for his service and an obvious slot for him to fill. Maybe a new 2C for Colorado? How about a 1LW for Toronto? Miller would be a pitch perfect guy in these slots in the short term, but there's no way they could afford to keep him in the long-term. He would be ideally short term strengthening to a team, but there's no way they'd pay arm and leg for only 4-6 months of him. For VAN to get superb value for him, he would need to be shipped to a team where his services are needed in the long-term, but the problem is that those who could afford to give that contract for him are teams that are not competing quite yet. How many GMs would be willing to spend a large part of their future for an asset they'd ink for long-term, but would also risk wasting his prime while being on the rebuild - that could be a waste of 3-5 years of his contract in worse cases. Very few I'd wager.

To summarize - in order for VAN to get arm and leg in exchange to Miller they would need to find a GM, who's willing to take many almost idiotic risks to make his team better. Can that happen? Sure. But I don't think it would make sense.

In my opinion, VAN should just keep Miller. He has played his best hockey thus far in Vancouver, and the chances are he's not dropping in level if staying in there. I'd imagine for Miller staying shouldn't be a problem either.