The Boston Bruins announced today that they have signed Kevan Miller to a four-year contract extension. This contract will last until the end of the 2019-20 season, and will have a $2.5 million dollar cap hit. The 28-year old defenseman has played three seasons for the Black and Gold, and is expected to be an important part of Boston’s blue line.
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Kevan Miller just won the lottery.
Miller played in 71 games last year and had a total of 18 points (five goals) for the B’s. His numbers weren’t terrible. He had the second best plus/minus on the team (+15). He wasn’t bad at soaking up minutes and being a physical defenseman for Boston.
The problem with Kevan Miller was they were misusing him. Mostly because the Boston Bruins didn’t have many other options. Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug were the only top-four defensemen the Bruins had last year. (The others were either injured, didn’t show up, or were held back as part of Claude Julien‘s ‘Don’t Trust The Rookies‘ plan.) With Dennis Seidenberg being mostly invisible, and Adam McQuaid being (overpaid) a stay at home defenseman, they had to move Kevan Miller up.
Can Kevan Miller play bottom-pair soak up minutes? Absolutely. He proved that last year. That is a role that the team and the fans can have complete confidence in. He also became one of the Bruins enforcers. Miller was willing to drop the gloves in spite of shoulder injuries previously sustained in fights.
Can Kevan Miller play as a top-four defenseman? That’s still up in the air. The Bruins were hampered by inconsistency last year, and Kevan Miller’s play was no different. He’d have a solid game, followed by a head-scratcher. He’d redeem himself the next night, and then play the game after that like he should have been the one sent to the ninth level instead of Colin Miller.
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The biggest problem with Kevan Miller is that he’s neither Dennis Seidenberg or Zdeno Chara in their prime. When put up against opposing team’s top lines, Miller often seemed to be one or two steps behind them.
Kevan Miller was a solid player for the Bruins at under a million a year. It’s part of the reason why he got the paycheck he did. He should be rewarded for the services he did render.
It’s pretty clear that the Bruins are desperate.
Why? They showed last season that they didn’t have much faith in the young blueliners. With Claude Julien still in charge, they may not have faith in them again next season. Seidenberg and Chara are fading. Adam McQuaid is just a bottom pair player. Finally, Torey Krug is out until at least November.
The fans and the media have called the Bruins a Jekyll and Hyde team. Up until this season, it was a term usually reserved for the players. Now I have to wonder if that term should apply to the front office as well.