The Boston Bruins look to be in good shape when it comes to the upcoming expansion draft. However, the biggest decision that the club must make is who to protect as their third defenseman, according to Joseph Ochs of The Hockey Writers. He writes that forwards are basically set with Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, David Krejci, David Pastrnak, David Backes, Riley Nash and Ryan Spooner. While Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug are obvious keepers on defense, the team will have to make a decision on the two Millers: Kevan Miller and Colin Miller. Ochs states that while they may share the same team and same name, they are totally different players.
The 29-year-old Kevan Miller just finished his fourth season. The rugged, defensive punisher has played more than 200 games, but also has missed a lot of time on injured reserve. While he only tallied three goals and 10 assists on the year, he is one of the team’s top penalty killers and teamed with Chara to make a solid second defensive unit. His improvements, despite missing the first 19 games due to injury, have been evident and is awareness and confidence have turned him into a top defenseman. The veteran defenseman is locked up until 2019-20 at $2.5MM.
However, the 24-year-old Colin Miller had developed quickly for Boston. He is younger with a higher upside and finished his second season with six goals and seven assists in 61 games. He is more of a well-rounded defenseman and set an AHL All-Star record in 2015 with a 104 mph slapshot. On top of that, he is only owed $1.0MM next year and then hits restricted free agency, so he will be under team control for several more years.
The Bruins may have it easier than many other NHL teams, but they will have to make a decision on the two blueliners soon.
- New York Islanders prospect Otto Koivula was named Rookie of the Year in the Finnish Liiga, playing with Ilves. The fourth-round draft pick in 2016 had a breakout year in the Finland veteran league with a 10 goal and 20 assist season in 50 games. Koivula, the 120th pick in last year’s draft, was actually acquired by the Islanders in a trade on draft day when they traded a 2017 fourth-round pick to the Philadelphia Flyers to acquire the pick to select the left wing. The 18-year-old was playing for the Finnish junior league when he was drafted and had just finished a season in which he scored 26 goals and 32 assists for 58 points.
Doesn’t seem hard to me, you keep Colin Miller. As much as I like Kevin’s grindy-ness and toughness his injury history, age and lack of flashiness make him far less likely to be selected compared to Colin.
Protect Colin and make a deal do not protect Kevin, depending on the price. If it’s a 4th rounder or lower, do it, if not then don’t and maybe they take him. They’d survive.
To protect
Colin Miller should be the obvious choice. You can never have enough puck movers & his all-around game is improving. If you want to keep Kevan Miller, make a deal with Vegas not to take him. Vegas is one of the teams who are said to be interested in Spooner. If Spooner ends up going there, maybe not selecting Kevan Miller in the expansion draft could be part of the deal