Quoting: FXOC8118
Absolutely worst deal I have seen for Miller yet. Miller is a 10 year guy with only 4 20+ goal seasons and about to hit 30. Barzal is a 25 yr old league acknowledged stud whose speed is, which is the key ingredient to the game now, is only matched by McDavid. His numbers have declined under Trotz while his overall responsible game has improved. You cannot trade him for anything less than huge package unless you wait the year and see what happens under Lambert and if he still underperforms than you worry about value. But league wide his value is viewed as huge. That is from an NHL front O guy i recently played golf with
Matt Barzal’s career points per game is a 70 point, 20 goal pace. His 2nd most productive season of his career came under trotz so using him as an argument that he made Barzal worse holds little water.
Over the last 3 seasons miller has more PP points, more 5v5 points, more 5v5 points per 60, and generates offense just as productively if not more so. Miller also averages 9 more goals per 82 games compared to barzal.
Factor in miller being better at more traditional areas of the game including faceoffs, more blocks, more hits, plays PK, and 5v6.
Finally if we consider contracts, Barzal has a 7 million cap hit this season and 10 million in salary owed. After retention, miller has a 3.15 million dollar cap hit and 2.7 million in salary owed. Significant savings this upcoming year.
Next year, miller will need to be re-signed at 8.5 million-ish per season. Obviously a significant cap hit.
Barzal has a qualifying offer of 8.4 million per season. You could probably get him for a little bit less, but it will still come in around $8 million on a multi year deal.
So yeah, they player who is currently better and will make much less money this season then Be re-signed for around the same AAV after one year vs the lower scoring and less complete player who has a way higher salary this coming year.
The only thing that evens out the Value is Barzal is 4 years younger. So for a team like NYI who are win now contenders, creating 3.85 million in cap space this year while upgrading their 1C position could easily be worth it even if it means getting 4 years older
For the Canucks, who have openly admitted they are trying to get younger and have stated their contention window is probably 2-4 years from now, getting a little worse in the short term is worth it to try and be better down the road.
Isles homer goggles is the only thing that could convince some one this trade is unfair