The Vegas Golden Knights have officially brought back their top offensive weapon on the blueline.
Things have gone dark with the Erik Karlsson trade rumors all of a sudden. And honestly, that’s okay because the Vegas Golden Knights have other issues to solve. The matter at hand for the Golden Knights right now should be resigning all of their restricted free agents.
However, the number of restricted free agents the Golden Knights have to sign has shrunk from five to four. On Saturday afternoon, the Vegas Golden Knights and Colin Miller avoided arbitration and agreed to a four-year deal worth 15.5 million dollars total. The number on the cap comes in at 3.875 million, friendly for the Golden Knights.
The offensive juggernaut on the blue line returns to Vegas, and that should excite any Golden Knights fan. Miller played a huge role in the Golden Knights success in their inaugural season. Let’s take a look at the year Miller had with the NHL’s newest franchise.
Miller was the only Golden Knights player besides William Karlsson to play every single game in the regular season and postseason. Miller stayed healthy and battled through bumps and bruises just like any other player in the NHL would. But he and Karlsson proved to be the ironmen of the Golden Knights during the team’s inaugural campaign.
In the 2017-18 season, Miller totaled ten goals, 31 assists and 41 points in 82 games played. The Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario native, shattered every one of his previous career-highs. He was one of the many players that went above and beyond expectations.
Don’t get me wrong; he showed glimpses of what he can do to be successful with the Boston Bruins. But for whatever reason, the Bruins gave up on the 25-year old and left him exposed in the expansion draft. That goes to show how well prepared the Golden Knights front office was for any situation in the expansion draft.
Miller brings a heavy slapshot to the point, and he has improved the accuracy of his shot during his time with Vegas. He can also quarterback a power play with ease and looks very comfortable moving the puck in transition. Miller is by far the most offensive oriented defenseman on this club.
He does, however, has his lapses on defense as he sometimes can get caught up ice for joining the rush too often. His skating game makes up for it most of the time, but the Golden Knights would love to see him clean up that aspect of his game. Other than that, there’s not a lot of knocks to Miller’s style of play.
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So with Miller officially back with the Vegas Golden Knights, that leaves Karlsson, Tomas Nosek, William Carrier and Shea Theodore to sign. Hopefully, general manager George McPhee and the rest of the Golden Knights front office makes these deals done quickly.