Boston Bruins: The Final Year of Kevan Miller
By Jay Peterson
With most players locked up and free agency winding down, it is time to look at the members of the Boston Bruins who are in the last year of their respective contracts. In this article, we will determine what Kevan Miller needs to do in his final year, and whether or not he will return to the Black and Gold.
The situation that the Boston Bruins have with Kevan Miller is an interesting one, to say the least. He was a pleasant surprise a few years back when coach Claude Julien called him up to play a few games with the big club. Heads were turned and former General Manager Peter Chiarelli wasted no time signing him to a contract of $800,000 according to salary cap site General Fanager) for a few years. In July, 2016, those years will be done and Kevan Miller will become, not a restricted free agent, but an unrestricted free agent.
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Now it must be noted that, along with Miller, the Bruins have a great number of young defensemen who are ready to crack the Bruins lineup and be regular NHLers. Zach Trotman, Joe Morrow, Colin Miller, just to name a few, will be challenging Kevan Miller for a spot on the big squad and the addition of Matt Irwin doesn’t makes things any easier. Whether he can outplay these other players or not may not matter if he is simply let go once the season is done.
So why keep him? Well, he plays a more defensive game than any of the aforementioned young talents. He has more NHL experience than any of them as well. Plus, it has already been proven that Kevan Miller plays like a Boston Bruin. This year will be his chance to show the Bruins organization that he is a player that they want to invest in for the future. The best way to do this is for Kevan Miller to not get injured, like he did last year, not get benched and possibly take some additional responsibility on the penalty kill.
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In the event that Kevan Miller does meet all expectations and has a good season, it remains unclear on whether or not the Bruins would sign him to a long-term contract. I feel that if Kevan Miller is willing to take on a team friendly contract of three to four years worth between $1-1.5 million a year, the Bruins would love to keep him. However, if Miller gets greedy and wants an amount that the Bruins just can’t swallow, it won’t be hard for General Manager Don Sweeney to say farewell, due to the number of defensive prospects that would attempt to take his place.
Ideally, it would be nice for the 27-year old Miller to have a decent year on the third pairing and maybe even spend some time on the second pairing with Krug when either Zdeno Chara, Dennis Seidenberg or Adam McQuaid inevitably get injured. If all goes well, I can see the Bruins possibly giving him up to $2 million, but only if he has the season everyone wants him to have and only if he is committed to the Boston Bruins for life. Only time will tell for these matters, but for the upcoming season, Kevan Miller, before anything else, needs to show us what Kevan Miller can do.