Ryan Miller missed practice on Tuesday due to "tightness". He isn't injured. Just tight.
Hmm.
Miller will be the back up when his former team the Buffalo Sabres roll into Van City tonight.
Miller played 549 regular season games in 11 seasons in Buffalo. He accumulated a 284-160 record and .916 save %, 2.60 GAA. In February 2014, Miller and Steve Ott were traded to St. Louis. Miller played only 19 games for the Blues. He has played 97 games for the Canucks the the past three seasons where he has posted a .915 save % and 2.59 GAA.
Jacob Markstrom will start tonight’s game against the Sabres. I've been hearing Miller trade rumors ever since LA Kings goalie Jonathon Quick suffered a long term injury last week. Quick will miss the next 3-4 months with a lower body injury.
The Kings are winless and are sinking like a SoCal sunset.
Sorry Kings fan. Jeff Zatkoff and Peter Budaj are not going to propel you into the playoffs next spring. You need a number one goalie. Now.
Canucks starter Ryan Miller is currently injured, but he became the topic of trade talks revolving around the Los Angeles Kings’ goalie situation. Their starter, Jonathan Quick, is injured as well. Quick is expected to be out of the LA lineup until after Christmas or even longer.
The aging Kings find themselves 0-3 and in serious need of a tourniquet to stop their bleeding. Serious injuries to Quick and Marian Gaborik have hamstrung the Kings who are in win-now mode. Their aging veteran core and maxed out salary cap make the Kings team whose glfocus is on today, not tomorrow.
Acquiring a capable and reliable veteran goalie may be the dressing that heals the gaping wound that exists in the LA goal crease right now.
Miller is now 36 years old and finds himself in the home stretch of a brilliant NHL career.
Miller and his wife, actress Noureen DeWulf, and their son Bohdi make their home in Manhattan Beach in Southern California.
A photo posted by Noureen DeWulf (@noureendewulf) on
Miller has one year remaining in his Canucks deal and will be UFA in July 2017 when he will turn 37 years of age. Miller has a $6M AAV.
If the Canucks were inclined to trade Miller to LA, they would have to absorb a portion of his $6 million salary. In exchange, the Canucks could load up on quality young building blocks.
Kings GM Dean Lombardi has been linked to Miller over the years.
Why not now?
The Canucks are off to a 3-0 record to start this season.
Lombardi does not want his Kings club to suffer the same fate as the 2015-16 Montreal Canadiens whose season plummeted to the basement of the Eastern Conference standings when starting goalie Carey Price suffered a long term injury.
The Canucks are led by the 36 year old twin tandem of Hank and Daniel Sedin. Canucks GM Jim Benning wants to rebuild his club in real time. He has some nice young building blocks in Bo Horvat, Jake virtanen and Ben Hutton. Benning needs more prospects and premium draft choices in order to successfully rebuild his team. Trading Miller to LA might expedite the rebuilding process.
If Benning were to trade Miller, Markstrom would become the number one tender in Vancouver.
Assuming it happens, Benning would have to promote Richard Bachman to full-time NHL backup. Young star in the making Thatcher Demko would be thrown from the fire right into the frying pan as the number one goalie of the AHL Utica Comets. We're Markstrom injured, the Canucks would be forced to start Bachman with Semko as his under study.
Trading Ryan Miller to LA now may not be such a bad idea afterall.
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