Player Discussion: J.T. Miller
- Thread starter Werewolf
- Start date
JT Miller has a 56% Offensive Zone Start percentage and is only at 47 CF%? Gonna have to dig deeper ... spent some time looking at Ranger games this morning. Bit of floater ... Cooper is gonna have to get him to skate. Saw a couple of Ranger practice videos ... bit of a goofball too.
When Miller is motivated and on his game he's better than Namestnikov, the problem is that he's way too inconsistent. Namestnikov has stretches of not scoring but he still contributes in other ways, his scoring is more inconsistent but his level of play isn't. Namestnikov has shown he can move up and down the lineup and usually plays well with whoever his linemates are. Not sure how Miller will do it that regard.
The only thing that makes sense is that they feel that Miller is a huge upgrade in the FO circle and that they can get him on the right path with his game. Cause there's not much more to separate them and we know what we have in Vladdy. We also assume we could sign Vladdy cheaper as he's want to be here for longer. Unless his negotiations weren't going Well? Reports are Miller wants 5-5.4 that's not something we should consider at all. He might well be a playoff rental to improve us on faceoffs and be a depth scorer then his rights get dealt at the draft.
The only thing that makes sense is that they feel that Miller is a huge upgrade in the FO circle and that they can get him on the right path with his game. Cause there's not much more to separate them and we know what we have in Vladdy. We also assume we could sign Vladdy cheaper as he's want to be here for longer. Unless his negotiations weren't going Well? Reports are Miller wants 5-5.4 that's not something we should consider at all. He might well be a playoff rental to improve us on faceoffs and be a depth scorer then his rights get dealt at the draft.
RDTBay4
Registered User
RDTBay4
Registered User
Not impressed so far, and it doesn’t help that Vladdy played a great game in New York tonight. Still it’s only one game.
Aside from faceoffs another reason I suspect Yzerman may have made that trade is that while neither player has been effective in the postseason thus far in his career, in Vladdy’s case it’s because he gets tossed around like a rag doll when teams get physical with him. He has looked a bit stronger this season so perhaps that might have changed had we kept him, but maybe Yzerman wasn’t convinced that this year would be any different and figures that Miller’s issue is easier to resolve. Hopefully he turns out to be right, but I’m still not convinced that messing with the chemistry of our top line (and I do think Vladdy should have stayed with Stamkov) was the right move to make at this point in the season. I’d love to be proven wrong though.
Aside from faceoffs another reason I suspect Yzerman may have made that trade is that while neither player has been effective in the postseason thus far in his career, in Vladdy’s case it’s because he gets tossed around like a rag doll when teams get physical with him. He has looked a bit stronger this season so perhaps that might have changed had we kept him, but maybe Yzerman wasn’t convinced that this year would be any different and figures that Miller’s issue is easier to resolve. Hopefully he turns out to be right, but I’m still not convinced that messing with the chemistry of our top line (and I do think Vladdy should have stayed with Stamkov) was the right move to make at this point in the season. I’d love to be proven wrong though.
TampaJay
Registered User
- Jan 16, 2016
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Yeh I don’t get why Miller was included in the trade. It affected more than the chemistry of a line. According to Yzerman, it was NYR that brought him up and not until Monday. From their perspective, it couldn’t have been about the money because Vlady is going to ask for about the same. Age and production are similar. If they wouldn’t do the deal without moving Miller, that is a red flag. I heard he had problems with his coach. I don’t see signing Miller to $5 million plus for long term. After watching Syracuse yesterday, Joseph looks like he will be ready next year, or after him Volkov, Katchouk, Raddysh. Miller just blocks the way. He’s RFA this summer so if he doesn’t really impress, easy to move on from him and get a return.
FinnLightning26
Death and no taxes
He took a dumb penalty and Names had a goal and an assist. Run him out of town already!
VoluntaryDom
Formerly DominicBoltsFan / Ⓐ / ✞
Like I said, it’s only one game. But Vladdy’s strengths in terms of zone exits and defense match two of our team’s greatest weaknesses and team/line chemistry is important. And I have always hated talented players who underachieve due to lack of effort so I admit to being biased against Miller from the start. I’d love to be proven wrong but IMO it just seems like a spur of the moment swap that we may end up regretting.
RussianGuyovich
Hella Ennui
- Jan 2, 2007
- 9,794
- 8,147
Did you read the advanced stats? Miller is better at some exits. Way better.
Personally, I believe that yzerman was showcasing him this season on the top line, knowing he wanted to try to live him before his RFA.
but I’m gonna miss him too.
I did. IIRC Vladdy was at something like 87% on zone exits while Miller was at 57%. In which numbers was Miller better?
I don’t think we were going to keep Vlad beyond this season anyway - like I mentioned in another thread he’s the sort of complementary player that you don’t want to lock up too much money and term with when you have so many better players who will need to be paid. I just question the wisdom of trading him now and for Miller.
Lack of consistent effort, penchant for dumb penalties and turnovers, tends to be too pass-first and tries to make the pretty play rather than the smart one...don’t we already have enough of those traits on our team? Vladdy has his flaws too but I think he did a lot more for us than people gave him credit for and while he was certainly expendable for the right trade I’m just not convinced swapping him for Miller was it.
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These Are The Days
Oh no! We suck again!!
I've never been super high on Miller. He has great bursts of talent at time but he's just never impressed me more than an average player who can put up some points sometimes.
Miller is gonna be a good player for us, I have no doubt. He'll need more than a few games to get used to Cooper's system. Vladdy spent his entire professional career in Cooper's system ... same for most of our players. The Crunch play the same system, so when the players arrive they have a good baseline to integrate themselves into the system right away. Even a player like Erne looked a bit tentative during his first few games and then something clicked and was able to play fast. Miller isn't there yet and it will be up to our staff to absolutely integrate the players as fast as possible.
Miller needs to play to his strengths and what the team needs from him. A heavy forecheck presence, a shoot first mentality, and aggressive in the battle zones on the ice. He seemed a bit tentative during the game as far as where to go on the ice ... but he needs to play fast and that won't happen for more than a few games. He did go to the net and that is big for this team. Miller plays a heavier game and fights at a higher weight class. Was watching him fight against Kessler, Shaw, etc. and that is something we needed. Specially in the playoffs.
Having Miller and Erne on same line to me was a mistake. They are both heavy PFs ... need Cooper to find a better balance in the lines.
Miller needs to play to his strengths and what the team needs from him. A heavy forecheck presence, a shoot first mentality, and aggressive in the battle zones on the ice. He seemed a bit tentative during the game as far as where to go on the ice ... but he needs to play fast and that won't happen for more than a few games. He did go to the net and that is big for this team. Miller plays a heavier game and fights at a higher weight class. Was watching him fight against Kessler, Shaw, etc. and that is something we needed. Specially in the playoffs.
Having Miller and Erne on same line to me was a mistake. They are both heavy PFs ... need Cooper to find a better balance in the lines.
It was 1 game and it was obvious that he didn't know the system. Lets give him time to get acclimated. You could tell he was lost at times and just reverted to playing defense. He wasn't forechecking and that's something I think he can be really good at in this system..
VinikToWinIt
Number 1 Bull****
I think he showed some promising flashes last night. Good puck protection, some nice passes, and parked himself in front of the net a few times. It's obviously going to be an adjustment for him getting used to the system, but I liked what I saw for the most part.
As a Rangers fan...yeah Miller can be frustrating and the things you list here have been his MO far too often this season. I've been feeling like he really needs a coach to kind of crack down on him and get him to play with more aggression and a little more straight forward. He tries to get too fancy sometimes, doesn't shoot enough, and doesn't keep up the physical play often enough, but it's a bit tough to tell how much of that may be from AV's system being more hands off in some ways I think and how much is just ingrained into Miller's game.
He'll make some infuriating plays like turning the puck over at his own blue line instead of getting it out, turning it over at the opposing blueline trying to be too fancy, etc, but sometimes when he's on he can be a force. So, we'll see if Cooper can get a little more out of him. Sometimes I'm not even sure how he puts up as many points as he does and then sometimes he looks great.
His corsi metrics tend to suck partly because the Rangers system almost by design did not emphasize shooting a lot, and partly because he just doesn't like to shoot the puck that much.
In my view Tampa is rolling the dice a bit and hoping they'll get more out of Miller and his potentially higher offensive ceiling versus Namestnikov.
edit: oh and generally I've been a Miller fan but this season he really mailed it in once the downward slide started and the Rangers said they were going to rebuild. Played like he had just plain given up and didn't give a damn. That may be one reason why the Rangers included him in the deal. For Tampa's sake hopefully playing on a team that's on the fast track to the ECF will perk him up
LTIR Trickery
Plz stop pucks
He plays physical, but somehow was still uninvolved last night. I really don't know why he had to be included in the deal, I know its one game but I've watched a bit of him and nothing really stands out.
nyrage
Registered User
Miller is a great passer and has pretty good vision on the ice, but your last paragraph sums up his his flaws. The talent is there, but not sure about his mental game. He's allegedly kind of immature and can rub people the wrong way. He is a loafer some times and really mailed it in lately. He was completely invisible in the last couple of playoff seasons, but not the only Rangers player to do that.
He can fill in at center at times, but is better on the wing. His turnovers can drive you nuts and then suddenly he makes a great pass to set up a goal. He can also play physical with an edge at times. He's one of those guys that you have to take the bad (turnovers and inconsistent effort) with the good (great passing and 50-60 points). Perhaps with better players and coaching, he takes another step in development.
- Jan 23, 2017
- 19,328
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Is it a thing between Ranger fans to start talking shit about your players once they leave the team? I've seen so many of their fans saying Girardi, Miller and even McDonagh will be disappointments for us. Maybe I've just seen the wrong people's posts, I don't know.
Sky04
Registered User
- Jan 8, 2009
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I can see where fans can get irritated with Miller, already noticed a alck of urgency in some of his play already 2 games in. It can be worse when he's in a primary scoring role, he doesn't have to be that here like how Girardi doesn't have to be a top pairing dman.
Sky04
Registered User
- Jan 8, 2009
- 29,024
- 18,033
I think we can mitagte his weaknesses by playing him with skill, the guy feeds off of it - beauty passes to Johnson, Point, and Stammer already, don't put him on the 3rd line with Killorn again.
TheDaysOf 04
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