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..And The Band Played On...

August 31, 2013, 10:41 PM ET [29 Comments]
GARTH'S CORNER
NHL news by Garth • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Updated:

Hold on. The Ryan Miller for Paul Stastny trade rumor that's been wafting through the air for the past few weeks has been addressed.

I admire the reporting skills of Adrian Dater of the Denver Post.

Dater has spoken with his Colorado Avalanche sources who tell him:

I’m told by reputable types that there is nothing to the rumors, that the deal won’t happen.

So, we can move on to the next rumor.

Stastny and Miller are each in the last years of their contracts, so their names will come up again in rumors, of that I have zero doubt. But the Avs are still intent of letting Semyon Varlamov get his shot again this year in the Avs net.


Right now, Miller is Buffalo's starting goaltender. He'll report to training camp. He will be focused on beating Zetterberg, Datsyuk, his brother Drew and the Red Wings in Detroit on opening night on 10/2. At age 33, Miller is Buffalo's oldest player. The average age of the Sabres is 26/1 years of age.

Miller may be moved to another team at some point during the regular season.

Not now.


I hearken back to what I reported in July. If Varlamov fails to grasp the Francois Allaire style, and if the Avs struggle to win games in the first 6-7 weeks of the season, don't be surprised of the Avs come calling on Buffalo for a goaltending upgrade in the form of Ryan Miller.

We haven't heard the end of the Miller to Avs rumors, which will only intensify in the weeks to come if the Avs make a trade for a defenseman. There is a rumor that that the Avs w are interested in making a trade with the Toronto Maple leafs to return JML to Denver where he started his NHL career, Liles has three years remaining on his current deal for $3.875 million per season.The Leafs need to create more cap space in order to sign their two RFAs Nazem Kadri and Cody Franson. Right now, the Leafs have only $4.9 million in available cap space to work with, which is not enough to re-sign Kadri and Franson with. The Avs desperately need an upgrade on their blue line as right now the have a keystone cops movie cast representing them on their blue line. Here's where the Miller plot thickens: JML and Miller have been best friends since they played together at Michigan State University. Likes was married last month in Colorado. Ryan Miller stood up in the wedding party as JML's best man.

The Avs have $10.2 million remaining under the $64.3 million cap. The Avs have two glaring areas of need right now: Defense and goaltending.

They can take a wait and see approach with the former, however, they need to make an immediate move to shore up the latter. Liles would give the Avs the veteran puck mover it so desperately needs right now. Landeskog, Duchene, O'Reilly, Stastny, Tanguay and the Avs forwards need a capable passer to get them the puck to break-out of the end with speed. Their transition game will fail if they cannot get out of their end and through the neutral zone with speed.


Keep an eye on the Leafs and Avs. If they do a deal for JML, it could likely be the leading indicator that Miller may be Denver bound.




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