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The Internet, and when I say that I of course mean Twitter (is there an Internet besides Twitter in the year 2016?), had a tendency to explode when
Kevan Miller did something for the Boston Bruins this past season. That trend continued on Tuesday with the word that Miller, a pending unrestricted free agent, had comes to terms on a new four-year deal worth $10 million in total ($2.5 million cap-hit) to keep him in a Boston sweater. The Bruins also signed forward
Seth Griffith to a one-year, two-way contract worth over $600,000, but that’s a topic for another day.
So the focus remained on the Miller re-up. Rightly so.
It’s best to get the obvious out of the way early: Miller, for all his career bests in 2016 (Miller established new single-season highs in games played, goals, assists, points, hits, and blocked shots), did not have a great season. It seemed that everything went wrong when No. 86 was on the ice. But that’s not the entire picture of Kevan Miller the NHL Defenseman. His initial emergence into the NHL proved that. Miller, like many Bruins, had straight-up terrible luck and was frequently exposed in a role above his ceiling. At the same time, a lot of that vaunted offensive production was a product of good luck, so it all screams of a situation where the truth can be found in the middle of his struggles and his point totals.
Still, this is not a player you make a late May priority and ink for another four years at over $2 million per season. And that’s not a knock on Miller as much as it’s a look at what the B’s need to do right now and moving forward to get their club back on track to the playoffs, and then to playoff contention.
The Black and Gold rolled with eight defensemen this past season (could have been nine had Matt ‘Eff Off’ Irwin found a way to last more than two games). That’s at least one too many. And stuck in a ‘win now’ mindset after what should have been a sobering 2014-15 season, the Bruins on-again, off-again attempted to develop young defensemen like
Colin Miller,
Joe Morrow, and
Zach Trotman on the fly. That plan went out the window when certain guys struggled to keep pace when times got tough and when the club acquired veteran
J.M. Liles at the deadline.
And the elder Miller, then a pending unrestricted free agent, was a player I thought the Bruins might have actually sold high on given his offensive numbers, affordable contract, and murky future in Boston.
That’s ‘cause deep down, you figured somebody out there would pay Miller more than what he’s likely worth to a contending team in the proper role as a physical, third-pairing defenseman whose capable offensive touch is a bonus. You just didn’t think it would be the Bruins, at least given the log-jam the team
still has on their NHL roster on the backend today, tomorrow, and moving forward. Which is funny (or sad, maybe maddening? I don’t know, you can decide, I’m not you) given the fact that the club’s glaring need, even after the decision to keep Miller in town, is still
more defensemen.
In essence, if there’s one thing the Bruins have a surplus of, it’s middle-of-the-pack to bottom-pairing blue-liners, either through age (Seidenberg), skill (McQuaid), or development (every prospect).
In fact, with Miller’s new contract, the Bruins have a combined $9.25 million committed to Miller,
Adam McQuaid, and
Dennis Seidenberg. The McQuaid deal, harshly criticized when first signed because of both its length and the money doled out to a player who’s always looked at his best when utilized in a safety-net type role on the third pairing, was hammered ‘cause the Bruins already had a replacement waiting in the wings in (you guessed it) Miller. Now, barring a trade, they have both McQuaid and Miller on their books for a combined $5.25 million for the next three seasons.
For some teams, that’s a solid value. But when you’re a team like the Bruins, a team with one bona fide top-four defenseman on their roster in Zdeno Chara (maybe two if you want to throw
Torey Krug, still unsigned by the way, into the conversation), that is not ideal cap management.
This is really $2.5 fewer million you have in your pocket to help bring that No. 2 defenseman into town.
When fired-and-dragged-through-the-mud ex-GM
Peter Chiarelli blew the cap on players that were widely regarded as ‘his guys’ --
Gregory Campbell,
Chris Kelly,
Rich Peverley,
Shawn Thornton, etc. -- he had the results (a Stanley Cup) to back up those signings. The Bruins eventually paid when those deals added up and priced the Bruins out of keeping a player like
Johnny Boychuk in town, but even then, there was a history to fall back on.
Miller was a pleasant surprise as a seventh defenseman on the Presidents’ Trophy winning club, was injured in 2014-15, and struggled in a role above his head in a 2015-16 campaign that saw the Black and Gold just completely collapse out of the playoff picture. What’s the ‘must have’ element here? Now, at the same time, I think it’d be supercillious to look at Miller’s advanced metrics and say that this is a guy you simply walk away from, especially with the way his skating game and ability to pressure the opposition in the attacking zone has improved with each season. But finding the perfect fit for both the B’s and Miller and figuring out how/where this makes the club better next year is still difficult.
And it will remain that way ‘til the Bruins make their next move at the draft or through free agency.
Still, it begs the question, how does this allow the B’s to find what they really need, which is that other top-four, dare I say top-pairing presence they truly need to be better a year or two years from now?
Most expect the Bruins to shop Seidenberg this summer. But Seidenberg, 34, whose struggles post-surgery have been pretty glaring and under contract for another two years at $4 million per season, seems unlikely to be dealt unless the Bruins are eating money on a deal. If Edmonton couldn’t find a suitor for
Nikita Nikitin, and if Philadelphia couldn’t find a taker for
Andrew MacDonald, and if
Dan Girardi is a lock to stay in N.Y. with that huge contract, what makes the Bruins think teams are going to knock walls down to acquire Seidenberg if he is indeed shopped around this summer? A victor from the already bygone age of high-priced the stay-at-home, intangibles-based top-four defenders, Seidenberg’s deal appears to be the Bruins’ albatross.
But let’s say they eat anywhere from one to two million of Seidenberg’s contract and get a deal done. That’s now at least $3.5 million committed to Miller/retained salary before you’re actually better.
And if you
do find that guy to put next to Chara and Miller is ultimately put back into a more suitable role next to Krug on a second/third pairing, the minutes you had seemingly allocated to develop Colin Miller, Morrow, and/or Trotman are gone. That would already go against that youth movement you’ve attempted to continue with the promotion of
Butch Cassidy and
Jay Pandolfo -- two guys incredibly focused on development -- to assistant coaching roles with the big club.
In other words, it’s just tough to see the logic behind this signing.
And that, believe it or not, is actually the most logical part of this whole thing.
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter since 2013, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • 
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