Reading Larry Brooks column in the post today. Trade deadline is five weeks away. March second. Rangers don't have a lot of expendable assets as Larry puts it. Rangers are in the market for a front line center. The name that keeps coming up in trade talks is J.T. Miller.
I know the kid makes mistakes from time to time but he played his fucking ass off in a tightly contested match against the Senators the other night and knocked Karlsson into the middle of next week on an attempted hip check by Karlsson.
Why are the Rangers so quick to trade young assets all the time. This kid is only going to get better in my opinion. He's not the only one who makes a bad play once in awhile. St. Louis gave the puck up a couple of times the other night and so did McDonagh.
As Brooks stated you keep trading away young assets and first round picks in a go for broke win now mentality you become the Rangers of 1997-2004.
Those were very lean years as we all know.
I don't think this is the year we need to 'go for it'.
It's too soon, imo. Keep TRJT.
Miller is a Callahan type but I think has more skills.
I watch a lot of Flyers games and I'll tell you what, Del Zotto plays very well and really knows how to move the puck. He is one of their more consistent defenseman in my opinion.
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Duc and Buch are pure skill guys and AT and RH as of yet cant sniff JT's jock.
Miller is a budding power forward. More likely to be a Dubi type than a heavy PF, but a PF nevertheless. Dont let those guys go. Also, we dont need a frontline center. We need bottom 6 center depth. These kids are really valuable, since the core guys have gotten older and more expensive. Within a year or two we'll be paying full or near full price for the top 3 Ds, Hank, Stepan, Brass, Nash, Kreider, Zucc (UFA) etc. To have talented guys to backfill the roster is just huge.
JT Miller would not be begging for a job if he was a free agent.
That means a bottom 6 guy to take draws. Brassard and Stepan are the frontline (1C and 2C) centers. I dont think you trade your young, big, fast former mid 1st rounder who is currently playing a 3rd/4th line role for a stopgap faceoff guy. And Brooks doesnt suggest it -- the guy he names, Vermette, is a top 6 guy.
We took Miller at 15 overall. Now he is developed, he dominated the AHL, and has outplayed his draft position (evidence: more NHL GPs than any 2011 #1 other than the top 10 picks, for a stacked team no less). Having him cost controlled for 4-5 more seasons is way more valuable than a few months of Vermette, let alone the lesser guys discussed.
JT has a chance to be a piece we build with, even beyond our current "win now" mode. Don't jeopardize that. Plus, with the development he's shown this season, he can be a part of our success right now in this season
I can't imagine a scenario where trading Miller really makes sense.
Of recent vintage, all but one of Sathers trades has been for a 1st line type or a 12/13th man type. Its Nash, MSL... or Carcillo. Sather has studiously avoided paying medium assets for a 2nd-3rd liner type. Except Clowe, which blew up in our face (he was injured and useless and was STILL too expensive to resign by a lot). Im hopeful that Sather has realized that you only pay retail for stars.
It also helps that our system is putting out players who can backfill the roster. So many of the earlier Sather moves can really be understood by the recognizing that the system wasnt producing any front end talent. So Sather felt compelled to dole out big UDA deals and trade for incomplete skilled guys like Wolski, Zherdev, Bourret etc
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That's really it since at least as far back as the 2003 tear down.
I remember Beck as a pretty good defenseman - was the heartburn people get about him motivated by who was traded for him? Was it that he was good but not as good as expected?
Maybe Girardi... But not Staal. Staal is younger and a much more naturally skilled player. He will age better than Girardi.
Long term the deal that worries me is Hank. Cap hit of $8.5mn thru 2020, when he'll be 38. It's pretty likely that he'll be league average or worse for the last 2-3 years of that deal.
Will be really interesting to see how Sather manages assets going forward. We've never been in a position to lose significant UFAs. Last year we lost big guys -- Strals in particular. I wonder whether Sather will just let guys walk (Zucc/MSL) or will he trade guys with term/RFA years left for assets (Hags) and resign the pending UFAs? There is a finite amount we can spend, especially on these wings who have promising potential replacements in the AHL and beyond.
He definately made an impact. It probably was a fair trade. Pat Hickey is all time favorite of mine so that was the crushing part for me. I am only a couple of years older than you so my allegiance were much less based on the business aspect.
If I recall correctly, he was one of many that Ted Sator didn't treat very well.